371.98 
J76n 


SCHOOL  AND  HOME  EDUCATION  MONOGRAPHS 
NUMBER  FOUR 

NATIONALITY  AND 
SCHOOL  PROGRESS 

JORDAN 


■%-•  +-r  - 


THE   UNIVERSITY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

LIBRARY 

3*71-98 


OAK  ST.  HDSr 


% 


Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below. 


University  of  Illinois  Library 


2'- 


m    1973 

5  m 


L161— H41 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 
A  Study  in  Americanization 


By 

RIVERDA  HARDING  JORDAN,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Education, 
Dartmouth  College 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

Bloomington,  Illinois 


Copyright,  1921  by 
PUBLIC  SCHOOL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

Bloomington,  Illinois 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE 

A  careful  study  of  the  effect  on  the  school  progress  of 
individuals  and  of  school  classes  due  to  the  presence  of  so 
large  a  percentage  of  children  of  other  nationalities  is  an 
undoubted  contribution  to  American  pedagogical  literature. 
As  yet,  the  means  are  not  at  hand  to  carry  such  a  study  to 
completion.  There  are  not  yet  available  instruments  for 
measuring  school  progress  so  well  designed  and  standardized 
as  to  detect  the  exact  effects  of  nationality.  There  are 
other  factors  from  which  the  nationality  factor  can  not  be 
so  separated  as  to  determine  the  effect  of  each  on  school 
progress. 

The  most  significant  chapter  of  this  study  is  Chapter 
Seven.  In  it  are  presented  facts  with  regard  to  mobility  of 
pupils,  the  occupation  and  economic  status  of  parents,  home 
condi lions,  church  connections  and  other  relations  which 
affect  school  progress  and  also  affect  the  conditions  under 
which  the  pupils  of  different  nationalities  must  do  school 
work.  American  children  should  lead  in  school  progress 
when,  as  shown  in  Table  XXXIII,  forty-seven  percent  of 
all  fathers  in  the  professions  are  Americans.  Less  than  one 
third  as  many  are  Swedes,  the  nationality  ranking  second  in 
this  group.  Add  to  this  the  evidence  that  the  language 
difficulty  of  foreign-born  pupils  is  very  real  and  there  ceases 
to  be  much  significance  in  moderate  differences  in  school 
progress  in  favor  of  American  children. 

School  administrators  will  find  much  encouragement  in 
the  results  of  this  study  for  their  efforts  to  Americanize  the 
children  of  all  nationalities.  They  can  make  the  schools  a 
real  "melting  pot"  for  the  immigrants  without  lowering  the 
standard  for  mental  ability  or  for  capacity  to  become  good 
citizens.    Such  is  the  evidence  brought  out  in  this  study. 


730 


CONTENTS 

# 

Chapter  Page 

I.    Introductory  Statement 1 

II.    Scope  and  Field  of  the  Inquiry 5 

III.  Manner  and  Method  of  the  Study 14 

IV.  Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population: 

a.  Birthplace  of  Parents 19 

b.  Birthplace  of  Grandparents 19 

c.  Birthplace  of  Children 22 

d.  Language  Persistence  in  the  Home 26 

V.    Nationality  and  School  Progress  : 

1.  Retardation 32 

2.  Acceleration 38 

3.  School  Marks 41 

VI.     Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests 59 

VII.    The  Nationality  Factor  in  Relation  to  Other  Factors  as 
Affecting  School  Progress  : 

a.  Mobility  of  Students 76 

b.  Occupation  of  Parents 81 

c.  Economic  Status  of  Parents 85 

d.  Home  Conditions,  Church  Attendance,  etc 87 

VIII.     Summary  and  Conclusions 94 

IX.     Bibliography 104 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT 

The  value  of  objective  standards  as  aids  to  effective 
educational  administration  is  continually  becoming  more 
evident  and  accordingly  the  acquisition  of  facts  which  may 
assist  in  the  establishment  of  such  standards  is  becoming 
more  welcome.  With  the  thought  of  making  a  slight 
contribution  to  this  literature  of  administration,  the  follow- 
ing study  has  been  undertaken. 

In  facing  the  enormous  problem  of  assimilating  and 
nationalizing  the  mighty  influx  of  immigrants  and  their 
offspring,  the  American  nation  has,  incidentally  rather  than 
intentionally,  given  over  the  task  to  the  American  public 
school.  In  carrying  out  this  serious  and  stupendous 
obligation,  the  school  has  shown  a  wonderful  courage  and 
astonishing  resourcefulness.  And  yet,  effectual  as  have 
been  the  results  when  viewed  in  the  large,  the  events  of  the 
past  two  years  have  brought  home  the  fact  that  this  inci- 
dental function  of  the  school  has  lacked  that  complete 
fulfilment  of  purpose  which  results  from  carefully  planned 
and  scientifically  developed  effort.  Clearly,  the  public 
school  is  the  proper  and  most  effective  agency  for  keeping 
alive  true  national  spirit  in  the  native  born,  and  for  instilling 
it  in  the  new  arrival  and  his  children,  or,  rather,  through 
his  children.  But  when  the  subject  is  taken  up  in  a  con- 
scious and  thorough-going  manner,  it  is  found  to  have  many 
hitherto  unsuspected  phases  and  aspects.  One  fundamental 
need  which  appears  immediately  is  that  of  a  more  careful 
study  of  the  population  itself,  in  its  constituent  elements. 
Too   often,   the   attitude   of   administrators   of  education, 


2  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

especially  in  our  inland  states,  has  been  to.  assume  the 
position  that  the  onus  should  be  shouldered  by  the  receiving 
ports  of  debarkation,  and  by  the  teachers  of  the  isolated 
settlements  known  as  "Little  Italies,"  "Little  Russias," 
Germanies  and  the  like,  scattered  here  and  there  through 
the  country.  As  to  the  rest  of  the  country  Americanization 
has  not  been  a  matter  of  definite  study,  or  considered  impor- 
tant enough  for  an  application  of  the  facts  of  population, 
even  were  they  presented  in  scientific  form.  Yet  the  most 
careless  perusal  of  the  United  States  census  reports  must 
impress  the  fact  that  the  element  of  our  population,  com- 
prising 46.2%  of  the  whole,  and  made  up  of  foreign  born 
whites,  or  native  born  whites  of  foreign  born  or  mixed  par- 
entage, and  of  alien  whites  and  dark  skinned  races  of  varied 
origin,  is  quite  generally  distributed  throughout  our  land, 
with  rather  a  marked  predilection  for  city  and  town  life. 
Surely  the  simple  fact  that  nearly  half  of  our  population  is 
made  up  of  persons  who  are  not  native  born,  or  children  of 
native  born  parents,  should  set  every  superintendent  to 
studying  the  composition  of  his  own  constituency,  with 
respect  to  its  national  composition  as  well  as  its  social  and 
economic  status.  Without  such  knowledge,  how  can  he 
hope  to  have  his  schools  function  properly  in  this  great  work 
of  developing  a  national  consciousness?  With  the  stimulus 
that  the  war  has  given  to  the  study  of  nationalities  and, 
through  their  presence  in  our  midst,  to  the  responsibility 
which  our  nation  may  come  to  hold  toward  the  countries  of 
their  origin,  in  the  impending  settlement  of  the  affairs  of 
Europe,  it  should  be  very  easy  for  every  school  administrator 
to  get  at  facts  which  will  enable  him  to  attack  the  problem 
of  his  community  more  intelligently. 

We  are  not  yet  entirely  clear  just  how  far  such  an  analysis 
of  the  school  constituency  should  be  carried,  nor  just  what 
will  be  the  problems  of  curriculum  and  variation  of  methods 


Introductory  Statement  3 

occasioned  by  the  discovery  of  a  mixture  of  nationalities  in 
any  community.  Our  theory  that  the  traditional  elementary 
curriculum  is  admirably  adapted  to  every  child,  of  whatever 
origin  or  capacity,  would  shut  the  door  to  any  great  varia- 
tion resulting  from  divergent  blood  strains  in  the  district. 
This  theory,  of  course,  is  constantly  defended,  as  being 
thoroughly  democratic  and  insuring  fair  play  to  all.  And, 
if  it  should  develop,  on  studying  critically  the  children  of  the 
polyglot  group  whom  we  are  training,  that  all  nationalities 
respond  with  equal  facility  and  success  to  this  scheme,  then 
there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said.  But  teachers  and  super- 
intendents are  continually  making  sweeping  generalizations 
regarding  the  various  nationalities  under  their  care,  which 
would  seem  to  imply  that  there  are  marked  differences  in 
capacity  and  habits  of  application,  as  well  as  in  traditions 
and  conventions,  of  such  a  nature  as  to  require,  in  a  thor- 
oughly efficient  and  scientific  treatment  of  the  situation, 
widely  varying  methods  of  treatment.  When  one  hears 
such  persons  speak  carelessly,  although  as  with  authority, 
of  the  "bright  Jewish  children"  as  against  the  "stolid 
Scandinavians,"  of  the  "persevering  Scots"  as  contrasted 
with  "those  mercurial  Irish,"  when  they  proclaim  confidently 
"the  advantage  of  the  pupil  who  speaks  a  foreign  language 
in  the  home"  as  against  the  poor  unfortunate  whose  parents' 
sole  possession  is  English,  even  though  pure  and  undefiled, 
it  would  seem  that  such  assertions  should  either  be  con- 
firmed, or  a  definite  quietus  be  put  to  unreliable  statements 
predicated  upon  prejudice,  superficial  observation,  or  narrow 
range  of  experience.  One  great  reason,  of  course,  for  such 
carelessness  in  expression  is  the  almost  complete  absence  of 
authoritative  evidence  easily  accessible  to  check  the  state- 
ments. 

In  view  of  the  situation  as  outlined,  it  has  seemed  essential 
to  make  a  beginning  toward  a  better  understanding  of  the 


4  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

varied  constituency  of  our  population  by  means  of  an 
impartial  endeavor  to  determine  whether  essential  differences 
can  readily  be  detected,  and  if  so,  whether  they  are  suffi- 
ciently marked  to  require  modification  in  any  respect  of 
ordinary  educational  procedure.  The  investigation  has 
thus  taken  a  form  which  may  perhaps  be  best  designated  a 
study  of  nationality  in  its  relation  to  school  progress. 

The  author  wishes  to  express  here  his  deep  appreciation 
of  the  assistance  rendered  by  the  many  persons  who  have 
made  the  study  possible:  to  the  principals  and  teachers  of  the 
schools  studied  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul;  to  the  graduate 
students  of  the  College  of  Education  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota  who  assisted  in  the  giving  of  the  tests ;  to  Dr.  M.J. 
Van  Wagenen,  who  supervised  and  checked  the  statistical 
work;  to  Prof.  G.  M.  Whipple,  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
who  read  the  manuscript  and  made  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions; to  the  author's  wife  and  mother,  who  assisted 
materially  in  collecting  and  arranging  the  data;  and  finally 
to  Dr.  L.  D.  CofTman,  President  of  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, who  directed  and  inspired  the  entire  study. 


CHAPTER  II 

SCOPE  AND  FIELD  OF  THE  INQUIRY 

The  investigation  of  nationality  in  its  relation  to  school 
progress  is  practically  a  virgin  field.  Mr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres, 
in  his  "Laggards  in  Our  Schools"  (1909),  p.  106,  says: 
".  .  .  .so  far  as  can  be  ascertained  (no  facts)  at  all  have 
been  cited  to  show  what  races  succeed  best  in  our  schools 
and  which  ones  worst."  And  now,  ten  years  later,  but 
little  more  can  be  said.  Mr.  Ayres  examined  the  records  of 
some  20,000  pupils  in  15  New  York  City  schools  in  which 
was  given  the  nationality  of  the  fathers  of  the  children,  to 
see  whether  the  nationality  of  the  father  seemed  to  have  any 
relation  to  the  questions  of  retardation  and  acceleration, 
and  decided  that  there  were  differences  due  to  nationality. 
He  gave  it  as  his  belief  that  "the  question  of  how  to  handle  a 
Scotch  immigrant  child  is  very  different  from  that  of  how 
to  treat  an  Italian.  The  education  of  an  English  boy  is  not 
at  all  the  same  task  as  the  educating  of  a  Russian"  (p.  106). 
But  he  is  unwilling  to  commit  himself  as  to  any  opinion 
beyond  the  seeming  evidence  of  the  tendency  quoted,  saying 
that  the  current  feeling  that  Southern  European  races  are 
inferior  to  the  Northern  is  by  no  means  established,  and 
closing  the  discussion  with  the  first  quoted  statement. 

Dr.  J.  K.  Van  Denburg,  in  his  "Causes  of  Elimination  of 
Students  in  the  Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City" 
(1911)  measured  the  actual  effects  of  various  possible  causes 
of  elimination  in  the  cases  of  a  thousand  pupils  taken  at 
random  from  those  who  entered  the  public  high  schools 
of  New  York  City  in  February,  1906.  Among  the  factors 
determined  in  this  study  was  the  nationality  of  the  pupil's 
father.     Using  this  as  a  basis,  Dr.  Van  Denburg  found  that 


6  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

children  of  Irish  parentage  were  eliminated  first  from  high 
school,  American  next,  German  next,  while  Russians  were 
most  apt  to  remain  in  high  school  to  complete  the  course. 

Another  type  of  study  which  has  been  made  is  that  of 
Mr.  R.  D.  Chadwick,  principal  of  the  Stowe  grammar  school 
of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  in  his  own  school,  and  published 
in  the  Journal  of  Education  (Boston)  Oct.  31st,  1918,  under 
the  title  "Know  Your  School."  Mr.  Chadwick  points  out 
the  problem  facing  administrators  of  schools  containing  a 
polyglot  population  by  tabulating  the  different  nationalities 
represented  in  his  building,  based  on  information  given  by 
406  pupils  regarding  their  parents.  These  children  represent 
25  pure  and  36  mixed  nationalities.  There  is  no  attempt 
made  to  show  the  relative  standing  in  school  work  of  these 
pupils,  and,  indeed,  such  an  attempt  would  have  been  futile, 
from  the  fact  that  there  were  so  few  of  each  nationality 
represented  in  the  school.  Nor  is  there  any  indication  that 
any  adjustment  should  be  made  in  the  course  of  study  or 
method  of  presentation  of  the  work  to  meet  the  needs  of  any 
of  these  nationalities  as  contrasted  with  the  others. 

In  the  survey  of  the  Cleveland  Public  Schools,  made  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  L.  P.  Ayres,  in  1915,  some  attention 
was  paid  to  the  nationality  factor  in  the  tests  given  in 
reading.  In  the  volume  of  the  Survey  entitled  "Measuring 
the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools,"  by  Dr.  Charles  H.  Judd, 
(Vol.  10)  in  pp.  144-7,  a  report  is  made  of  tests  given  in  oral 
reading  in  eight  American  schools,  two  Italian  schools,  three 
Hebrew  schools,  and  seven  Polish  and  Bohemian  schools. 
However  the  report  qualifies  its  findings  thus:  "The  results 
shown  can  be  accepted  only  in  a  very  general  way  for  two 
reasons.  The  first  is  that  the  number  of  schools  involved  in 
some  cases  is  limited.  The  second  is  that  it  is  not  certain 
in  all  cases  that  the  pupils  tested  from  a  school  in  which  a 
given  nationality  dominated  were  of  that  type.     The  results 


Scope  and  Field  of  the  Inquiry  7 

are,  however,  accurate  enough  to  serve  in  suggesting  explana- 
tions of  some  of  the  earlier  results  reported  for  individual 
schools."  The  results  in  each  school  are  compared  with  the 
average  scores  in  the  Cleveland  schools  in  general,  in  oral 
reading,  and  show  that  the  American  schools  are  superior 
in  achievement  during  the  first  three  grades  and  from  that 
point  on  follow  the  average  very  closely.  Italian  pupils  are 
seriously  handicapped.  The  children  in  the  Hebrew  schools 
are  distinctly  ahead  of  the  average  Cleveland  pupils.  Poles 
and  Bohemians  make  slow  progress  during  the  first  year, 
follow  the  average  closely  for  the  next  four,  and  then  drop 
below  the  average  during  the  last  three  years.  But  after  all, 
the  very  fact  that  is  indicated  in  the  report,  namely,  that 
there  are  two  outstanding  reasons  against  drawing  definite 
conclusions  from  the  results  quoted  leaves  a  well-defined 
doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions,  and  makes 
but  the  more  evident  a  need  for  a  careful  study  of  national 
tendencies,  and  especially  of  those  where  the  pupils  them- 
selves are  not  under  the  handicap  of  foreign  birth.  Nor 
can  definite  conclusions  be  drawn  from  grades  made  in  a 
single  subject. 

These  studies  quoted  comprise  the  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  subject  now  available.  Clearly,  no  one  of  them 
makes  any  serious  attempt  to  examine  into  the  individual's 
ancestry,  or  tries  to  differentiate  between  the  child  of  parents 
representing  only  the  first  or  second  generation  in  this 
country,  and  him  whose  grandparents  were  native  born 
Americans,  and  therefore  truly  American  in  origin. 

There  are,  of  course,  varying  concepts  regarding  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "nationality."  It  is  felt,  however,  that 
there  is  no  need  to  go  into  this  subject  further  than  to  say 
that  in  this  study  nationality  will  be  taken  to  mean  a  group 
of  people  who  speak  essentially  the  same  language,  and  who 
therefore  may  be  considered  to  derive  their  origin  from  the 


8  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

geographical  division  in  which  that  language  is  dominant. 
Accordingly,  the  present  study  has  been  undertaken  with 
the  idea  of  determining  whether  the  factor  of  nationality 
of  school  children  enters  into  their  progress  in  school,  in  so 
far  as  this  can  be  determined  by  a  comparison  of  children 
of  foreign-born  ancestry,  with  those  of  distinctively  American 
parentage. 

In  order  to  make  such  a  comparison,  a  field  for  the  in- 
vestigation should  be  a  community  which  has  a  population 
made  up  in  about  equal  parts  of  Americans  and  of  European 
nationalities.  Such  a  combination  affords  a  better  basis  for 
comparison  in  that  the  lack  of  either  American  or  foreign 
predominance  tends  to  equalize  conditions  of  social  develop- 
ment, since  no  one  nationality  dominates  the  others.  The 
United  States  census  reports  of  1910  name  eight  cities  of 
over  100,000  population  in  this  country  which  are  made  up 
of  nearly  equal  parts  of  the  three  classes  of  inhabitants 
listed  in  the  nationality  study  of  the  census,  namely,  native 
whites  of  native  parentage;  native  whites  of  foreign  or 
mixed  parentage;  and  foreign  born  whites.  Such  cities 
would  seem  to  be  the  best  fields  for  such  comparisons  as 
proposed,  for  on  account  of  the  nearly  equal  proportions 
of  these  three  elements,  there  is  no  appreciable  dominance 
of  any  one  nationality,  and  so  conditions  are  most  favorable 
for  uniform  development  of  all.  The  cities  are:  Cambridge; 
Detroit;  Minneapolis;  Newark;  New  Haven;  Providence; 
St.  Paul;  Worcester.  Before  deciding  upon  any  one  or 
more  of  these  cities  as  a  proper  field  of  inquiry,  a  further 
examination  should  be  made,  to  determine  whether  there 
is  a  sufficient  distribution  of  nationalities  to  make  a  com- 
parative study  possible.  The  following  table  indicates 
the  character  of  the  population  of  St.  Paul  and  of  Minne- 
apolis, as  indicated  by  the  Census  Reports  of  1910: 


Scope  and  Field  or  the  Inquiry 


table  I 


PERCENTAGE   OF  FOREIGN   BORN   INHABITANTS   OF  MINNEAPOLIS   AND   ST.   PAUL, 

RELATED  TO  THE  ENTIRE  NUMBER  OF  FOREIGN  BORN  RESIDENTS  OF  THE 

TWO  CITIES :    (UNITED  STATES  CENSUS  OF  1910) 


Minneapolis 

St.  Paul 

Swedes 

30.8 
10.1 
19.1 
8.7 
8.5 
6.6 
3.3 
3.3 
2.4 
1.0 
6.2 

20.1 

Germans 

24.8 

Norwegians 

7.2 

7.7 

Austrians 

10.4 

Russians 

7.7 

Irish 

7.4 

English 

3.8 

Danes 

2.5 

Finns     .        

0.1 

All  Others 

8.3 

100.0 

100.0 

The  outstanding  characteristic  of  this  table  is,  of  course, 
the  predominance  of  northern  European  nationalities. 
However,  a  more  detailed  study  of  the  composition  of  various 
wards  and  schools  brings  out  a  larger  actual  number  of 
southern  Europeans  than  this  table  would  indicate.  This 
will  develop  later  in  the  study.  Thus,  in  several  schools 
there  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  enough  Italians,  Roumanians, 
and  Hungarians  to  make  comparisons  of  some  value. 

The  figures  of  actual  population  in  each  city  are  given 
in  Tables  n  and  in. 


10 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


table  II 

CONSTITUENCY   OF   FOREIGN    BORN,    AND    OF   NATIVE    BORN    WITH    ONE    OR   BOTH 

PARENTS  FOREIGN  BORN,  POPULATION  OF  MINNEAPOLIS.     (CENSUS,  1910) 

TOTAL  CENSUS  OF  MINNEAPOLIS,  301,408 


Native  Born  with: 

Nationality 

Foreign  Born 

Both  parents!  One  parent 
F.  B.              F.  B. 

Number 

% 

Number 

Number 

Austrian 

6,075 

63 

1,637 

5,877 

2,030 

2,798 

875 

293 

8,650 

463 

209 

1,176 

2,867 

653 

118 

16,401 

1,412 

5,654 

1,060 

26,477 

299 

280 

213 

358 

7.1 

.1 

1.9 

6.8 

2.4 

3.3 

1.0 

.3 

10.1 

.5 

.2 

1.4 

3.3 

.8 

.1 

19.1 

1.6 

6.6 

1.2 

30.8 

.3 

.3 

.2 

.4 

3,958 

25 

1,923 

2,423 

1,310 

1,697 

395 

301 

14,798 

36 

171 

506 

7,180 

279 

530 

Belgian 

45 

Canada  French 

Canada  Others 

Danish 

1,592 

5,396 

549 

English 

2,951 

Finns   . 

66 

French 

300 

Germans 

6,544 

Greeks 

Holland 

19 
120 

Hungary 

75 

Irish 

3,548 

Italian 

81 

Montenegrins 

Norwegians 

Roumanians 

Russians 

14,267 

549 

2,992 

740 

22,326 

302 

81 

296 

8,757 

3,603 

8 

225 

Scotch 

919 

Swedes 

3,952 

Swiss 

283 

Turks 

7 

Welsh 

252 

All  Others 

171 

Total 

85,938 

28.5% 

100.0 

85,312 

37.7% 

31,236 

Native  whites,  native  parents,  31.9%  of  population. 
Negroes,  0.9%  of  population. 


Scope  and  Field  of  the  Inquiry 


11 


TABLE  III 

CONSTITUENCY  OF  POPULATION  OF  ST.  PAUL,  SHOWING  NUMBER  OF  FOREIGN  BORN, 

AND  OF  NATIVE  BORN  WITH  ONE  OR  BOTH  PARENTS  FOREIGN  BORN 

(CENSUS  OF  1910) 


Foreign  Born 

Native  Born  with: 

Nationality 

Both  Parents 
F.  B. 

One  Parent 
F.  B 

Number 

% 

Number 

Number 

Austrian 

3,900 

70 

1,096 

3,302 

1,412 

2,136 

73 

276 

14,025 

129 

194 

1,989 

4,184 

1,994 

6.9 

.1 

1.9 

5.8 

2.5 

3.8 

.1 

.5 

24.8 

.2 

.3 

3.5 

7.4 

3.5 

3,405 

21 

1,208 

1,408 

1,193 

1,553 

14 

244 

23,558 

17 

158 

785 

8,798 

1,050 

904 

Belgian 

32 

Canada  French 

Canada  Others 

Danish 

1,132 

2,857 

359 

English 

1,820 
15 

Finns 

French.  .  .- 

Germans 

253 
8,156 

Greeks 

16 

Holland 

76 

Hungary 

114 

Irish 

3,889 
92 

Italian 

Montenegrins 

Norwegians 

Roumanians 

Russians 

4,063 

267 

4,359 

669 

11,335 

544 

202 

73 

232 

7.2 
.5 

7.7 

1.2 
20.1 

1.0 
.4 
.1 
.4 

4,001 

68 

2,428 

528 

11,379 

473 

116 

79 

6,747 

1,230 

4 

220 

Scotch  

535 

Swedes 

1,926 
309 

Swiss 

Turks 

6 

Welsh 

111 

All  Others 

111 

Total 

56,524 
26.3% 

100.0 

69,231 
43.5% 

24,167      ■ 

Total  population  of  St.  Paul,  1910,  214,744. 
Native  whites,  native  parents  28.7%  of  population. 
Negroes  1.5%  of  population. 


12 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


Tables  n  and  m  give  an  excellent  statement  of  the  actual 
number  of  foreign  born  and  foreign  derived  inhabitants  of 
the  Twin  Cities,  and  will  be  somewhat  of  an  eye-opener  to 
those  persons  who  have  imagined  that  the  foreign  population 
of  these  cities  is  almost  wholly  Scandinavian. 

The  distribution  of  these  nationalities  over  the  cities  is 
the  next  item  of  interest,  for  a  comparative  study.  In  order 
to  make  well-founded  comparisons,  there  should  be  a 
sufficient  mixture  of  nationalities  working  side  by  side 
in  the  classroom  to  make  comparisons  possible  on  somewhat 
equal  terms.  The  general  situation  in  Minneapolis  is 
indicated  very  clearly  in  Table  iv. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    FOREIGN    BORN    POPULATION    OF    MINNEAPOLIS    BY    WARDS. 
(CENSUS  OF  1910) 


Nationality 


Ward  Number 


II        III       IV 


VI       VII      VIII      IX 


XI       XII    XIII 


Austria 

Canada  French 
Canada  others . 

Denmark 

England 

Finland 

Germany 

Hungary 

Ireland 

Norway 

Roumania 

Russia 

Scotland ...... 

Sweden 


2743 

304 

329 

67 

74 

14 

1226 

140 

296 

316 

52 

493 

18 

627 


253 

89 
482 

85 
.169 

26 
341 

10 
127 
630 

33 

83 

1036 


594 
260 
584 
132 
296 
66 

1948 
198 
384 

1440 
178 

3115 
49 

1992 


279 
146 
740 
195 
530 
537 

1029 
104 
460 

1130 

97 

818 

165 

1821 


191 

68 
788 
210 
382 

31 
552 

31 

287 

1285 

80 

208 

144 

2100 


776 

39 

72 

134 

66 

33 

237 

565 

146 

2037 

264 

260 

11 

2813 


25 

40 

311 

176 

164 

29 

268 

8 

221 

1389 

11 

22 

61 

2521 


63 

77 

1000 

184 

417 

12 

494 

13 

267 

1106 

16 

66 

197 

1941 


669 

413 

455 

141 

163 

19 

754 

51 

221 

1715 

3 

277 

90 

3201 


210 

99 

303 

73 

74 

39 

813 

14 

88 

1155 

2 

130 

34 

2499 


85 

17 

117 

259 

78 

28 

285 

20 

131 

2621 

644 

207 

41 

3119 


166 

51 

206 

273 

164 

39 

441 

6 

152 

1154 

65 

13 

80 

1872 


21 

34 

490 

101 

219 

2 

262 

16 

87 

423 

0 

12 

8-7 

935 


Scope  and  Field  of  the  Inquiry  13 

This  Minneapolis  table  is  decidedly  illuminating,  especially 
to  persons  who  expect  to  find  marked  segregation  of  various 
nationalities  in  definite  "quarters."  Although  there  ate 
evident  certain  gregarious  tendencies,  yet  it  will  be  noted 
that  every  nationality  listed,  with  one  exception,  is  repre- 
sented in  every  ward  of  the  city.  It  will  be  noted  further 
that  the  smallest  number  of  Swedes  living  in  any  one  ward 
is  627;  of  Germans,  237;  of  Norwegians,  316;  so  that  of  these 
nationalities,  at  least,  there  will  be  sufficient  contribution 
to  the  schools  of  any  ward  in  the  city  to  warrant  a  selection 
of  schools  by  wards,  without  other  guide,  which  would  give 
scope  for  a  very  satisfactory  comparative  study.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  investigator's  knowledge  of  social  and 
economic  conditions  of  the  city  made  it  possible  to  use  this 
basis  as  only  a  contributing  element  of  his  final  choice. 

The  distribution  for  St.  Paul  is  given  on  Page  1018,  Vol. 
II  of  the  United  States  Census  of  1910,  and  shows  a  condition 
similar  to  that  in  Minneapolis. 

From  these  facts  of  the  census,  it  appears  that  the  twin 
cities  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  afford  a  field  broad  enough 
for  definite  conclusions  from  a  comparison  of  different 
nationalities  with  native  American  stock.  The  distribution 
of  population  among  the  various  wards  of  these  cities  proves 
that  it  is  possible  to  select  public  schools  which  draw  from 
localities  in  which  an  adequate  number  of  nationalities  are 
represented  for  such  a  comparison. 

The  present  investigation  was  accordingly  limited  to 
schools  in  the  Twin  Cities. 


CHAPTER  III 

MANNER  AND  METHOD  OF  THE  STUDY 

In  order  to  get  at  the  facts  of  nationality  and  progress 
of  school  children,  co-operation  of  the  school  authorities  of 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  was  asked,  and  granted  for  those 
schools  selected1  as  centers  of  investigation.  The  schools 
were,  in  Minneapolis,  the  Motley  (2d  ward),  Grant  (3d  ward), 
Harrison  (4th  ward),  Jackson  and  Clay  (6th  ward),  Calhoun 
(8th  ward),  Prescott  (9th  ward),  Holland  (10th  ward), 
Adams  (11th  ward),  and  Bryant  (13th  ward).  In  St.  Paul, 
the  Franklin,  Sibley,  and  Van  Buren.  The  records  of  the 
schools  were  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  investigator,  and  the 


1  The  principal  basis  for  selecting  these  schools  was  that  of  securing  repre- 
sentation from  districts  of  varied  social  constituency,  and  buildings  of  sufficient 
size  to  give  enough  pupils  per  grade  and  class  for  adequate  comparisons  within 
the  school.  The  Motley  School  was  first  chosen  to  test  the  method  employed 
in  the  study,  from  the  fact  of  a  varied  constituency,  drawn  both  from  a  pros- 
perous industrial  community  and  also  from  the  University  section,  so  that 
children  of  University  professors  and  children  of  mechanics  of  foreign  origin 
are  enrolled  in  the  same  classes.  The  results  of  the  study  in  this  school  encour- 
aged further  study,  and  the  Calhoun  and  Bryant  schools  were  selected  from  the 
best  residence  sections  of  the  city,  the  Calhoun  from  the  West  High  District, 
and  the  Bryant  from  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Central  High  School; 
the  Prescott  school  in  Northeast  Minneapolis,  the  Harrison,  in  North  Minne- 
apolis, representing  "middle  class"  districts  of  comfortable  homes;  the  Adams 
in  South  Minneapolis,  and  the  Holland  in  Northeast  Minneapolis,  generally 
thought  of  as  being  located  in  "foreign"  districts  of  the  better  type;  the  Grant, 
on  the  edge  of  the  "Ghetto"  of  North  Minneapolis,  and  the  Jackson  and  Clay 
schools,  situated  in  a  settlement  district  which  draws  principally  from  the  slums 
of  South  Minneapolis  and  the  "river  flats." 

In  St.  Paul,  it  was  possible,  on  account  of  the  "war  conditions,"  to  obtain 
access  to  schools  through  personal  acquaintance  only.  As  a  result,  it  was  im- 
possible to  make  a  selection  based  on  definite  plan,  but  in  matter  of  fact,  the 
schools  used  showed  a  very  good  "sampling"  of  nationalities,  and  proved  to 
represent  varied  social  groups.    • 

14 


Manner  and  Method  of  the  Study  t5 

principals  of  the  various  buildings  gave  their  hearty  co- 
operation. Even  though  the  investigation  was  made  during 
the  school  year  1917-18,  when  the  schools  were  overloaded 
with  outside  activities  and  hampered  with  all  sorts  of  inter- 
ruptions, yet  the  investigation  was  welcomed  heartily,  both 
on  account  of  the  interest  manifested  in  an  inquiry  of  the  sort, 
and  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  investigator  had  just 
resigned  from  the  Minneapolis  school  system,  and  so  found 
himself  working  among  friends  and  recent  co-laborers.  This 
fact  of  close  co-operation  made  the  results  more  accurate 
than  would  have  been  possible  in  working  with  strangers, 
for  the  personal  interest  of  the  principals  and  teachers 
resulted  in  a  close  scrutiny  and  correction  of  the  question- 
naires which  were  used.  In  order  to  get  the  facts  of  parentage 
from  several  thousand  cases,  a  house  to  house  canvass  was 
manifestly  impossible  and  as  the  facts  needed  were  all 
purely  objective,  and  easily  answered  through  a  question 
blank,  it  was  felt  that  the  inaccuracies  of  the  usual  question- 
naire would  be  largely  eliminated  by  an  arrangement  of  check 
questions,  and  careful  supervision. 

Accordingly  the  following  blank  was  prepared,  and  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  pupils: 

PUPIL'S  CARD 

1.  Xame 2.  Age — Years Months 3.  Grade 

4.  Sex 5.  Race  (White,  Negro,  Japanese) 6.  Do  you  wear 

glasses? 7.  Is  your  general  health  good? Fair? Poor? 

8.  Have  you  had  a  serious  illness  during  the  past  year  (serious  enough  so  that 
you  lost  two  weeks  or  more  from  school)  ? 

9.  Father  born  in City  or  County.  .  .  .State.  .  .  . Country 

10.  Mother  born  in City  or  County ....  State ....  Country 

11.  Father's  father  born  in City  or  County.  .  .  .State.  .  .  .Country 

12.  Father's  mother  born  in City  or  County.  .  .  .  State ....  Country 

13.  Mother's  father  born  in City  or  County.  .  .  .State.  .  .  .Country 

14.  Mother's  mother  born  in City  or  County.  .  .  .State.  .  .  .Country 


16  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

15.  What  language  does  your  father  speak  at  home? 

16.  What  language  does  your  mother  speak  at  home? 

17.  What  language,  besides  English,  can  you  speak? 

18.  What  language,  besides  English,  can  you  understand? 

19.  How  long  has  your  father  been  in  the  United  States? 

20.  How  long  has  your  mother  been  in  the  United  States? 

21.  How  many  brothers  have  you? 22.  Sisters? 23.  Are  you  the 

oldest? 

24.  If  you  are  not  the  oldest,  are  you  the  second,  third,  or  where  do  you  come? 

25.  What  places  have  you  lived  in  besides  Minneapolis? 


26.  Is  your  father  living? 27.  Your  mother? 

28.  If  your  father  is  living,  what  is  his  occupation  or  business? 

29.  If  your  mother  helps  support  the  family,  what  is  her  occupation? 

30.  Do  you  work  to  earn  money? 31.  What  do  you  do? 

32.  What  do  you  make  per  week? 33.  About  how  much  did  you  earn 

last  year? 34.  Do  you  help  support  the  family? 

35.  Do  you   spend   this  money  on 

yourself,  save  it,  or  give  it  to  your  parents? 

36.  Does  your  family  own  the  home?  ...  .37.  Rent? 

38.  What  church  does  your  father  belong  to  (if  any)? 39.  Mother? 

40.  What  other  schools  in  this  city  have  you  attended? 


41.  In  any  other  town  or  county? 

42.  What  is  your  height? 43.  Weight? 

44.  Color  of  eves? 45.  Hair?  .  .  . 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  answers  required  are  mostly  of 
one  word,  that  they  are  all  matters  of  fact,  and  not  of 
opinion  and  in  general  of  a  type  to  call  for  no  great  exercise 
of  mental  effort.  The  important  questions  9-14  are  checked 
by  questions  15-18,  by  questions  19-20,  and  by  questions 
25  and  40.  In  the  case  of  some  religious  beliefs,  as  the  JewTs, 
questions  38-39  also  served  as  check  questions.  Questions 
2-4,  8,  42-43  could  be  directly  checked  from  the  school 
records.  Thus  the  principal  objections  to  the  questionnaire 
method  are  obviated  by  this  system  of  checks,  especially 
when  it  is  remembered  that  the  principals  and  teachers  were 


Manner  and  Method  of  the  Study  17 

ready  and  willing  to  assist  in  giving  further  information  in 
doubtful  cases.  But  with  all  of  these  safe-guards,  it  was 
thought  best  to  place  the  blanks  in  the  hands  of  the  pupils 
of  the  three  highest  grades  only,  namely  the  6th,  7th,  and 
8th.2  When  it  is  understood  that  in  nearly  all  cases  the 
blanks  were  given  to  the  children  and  were  to  be  taken  home, 
and  filled  out  with  the  assistance  of  the  parents,  and  in  many 
cases  accompanied  by  a  mimeographed  statement  from  the 
principal  explaining  the  purpose  of  the  questionnaire,  further 
precautions  will  be  seen  to  have  been  provided  against  error. 
High  School  pupils  were  not  included  in  the  inquiry  for 
the  reason  that  the  most  universal  distribution  of  national- 
ities was  desired,  so  that  by  limiting  the  inquiry  to  those 
grades  in  which  the  compulsory3  laws  were  most  generally 
in  force,  this  end  was  most  nearly  secured.  Then  it  was 
necessary  that  the  subjects  of  study  of  those  pupils  under 
consideration  should  be  as  far  as  possible,  the  same.  The 
differentiation  of  the  high  school  courses,  either  junior  or 
senior,  would  prevent  this,  so  that  only  schools  were  chosen 


?  The  selection  of  the  three  highest  grades  has  an  advantage  in  that  the 
early  effects  of  language  difficulties  on  the  part  of  the  foreign-born  are  generally 
presumed  to  be  largely  eliminated,  and  while  the  effects  of  such  difficulties  may 
be  felt  still  in  the  matter  of  retardation,  they  will  not  be  so  appreciable  a  factor 
in  the  school  marks  for  the  grades  studied.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the 
difficulty  that  the  children  may  have  been  in  the  schools  so  long  that  national 
or  racial  differences  have  been  neutralized  by  the  school  influence,  so  that  initial 
differences  may  not  persist.  In  answer,  it  may  be  said  that  if  no  appreciable 
differences  are  found,  the  latter  supposition  may  be  assigned  as  one  reason  for 
such  lack  of  difference.  On  the  other  hand,  if  differences  are  found  which  seem 
to  be  based  upon  nationality,  the  conclusion  that  there  are  national  differences 
is  definitely  strengthened  by  the  fact  of  the  higher  grades  being  used.  The 
sequel  will  show  whether  the  need  for  further  study  of  the  lower  grades  is  desir- 
able. 

3  The  compulsory  age  law  in  Minnesota  provides  that  children  must  attend 
school  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen,  or  if  the  eighth  grade  be  not  com- 
pleted, between  the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen. 


18  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

in  which  there  was  the  greatest  uniformity  of  subject  matter 
offered  to  the  pupils. 

From  the  thirteen  schools  investigated,  2653  question- 
naires were  collected  which  were  rilled  out  sufficiently  to  be 
of  some  value  in  the  study.  As  is  inevitable  in  such  a  can- 
vass, all  questions  were  not  answered  on  all  blanks,  so  that 
blanks  which  had  to  be  rejected  for  some  studies  were  yet 
available  for  others.  Accordingly,  the  number  of  totals 
in  the  succeeding  tables  will  not  always  agree.  In  the  case 
of  comparisons  with  school  marks,  also,  the  total  number  was 
not  available,  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  a  number  of  cases, 
the  pupil  had  come  from  another  school  or  city  so  recently 
that  his  marks  were  not  available  for  comparative  purposes. 

From  the  school  records  were  taken  the  marks  made  by 
the  pupils  for  the  preceding  term  in  each  subject,  the  age  of 
the  pupil  on  entering  school  for  the  current  school  year 
(September  1917),  and  where  it  was  available,  the  record  of 
health  and  vital  statistics.  As  this  part  of  the  study  was 
made  in  the  second  semester  of  the  year  1917-18,  the  marks 
recorded  were  those  given  at  the  close  of  the  semester  just 
completed,  and  therefore  were  susceptible  of  explanation 
by  the  teachers,  where  questions  arose  difficult  of  interpre- 
tation. The  marks  were  in  most  cases  given  on  a  monthly 
basis,  so  that  in  most  schools  there  were  four  marks  recorded 
in  each  subject,  indicating  the  relative  improvement  or 
retrogression  during  the  semester  in  each  case.  This 
feature  was  of  especial  value  in  evaluating  the  work  of 
repeaters  or  notably  retarded  pupils.  As  has  been  said, 
principals,  teachers,  and  in  some  cases,  the  school  clerks 
and  nurses  were  interrogated  by  way  of  explaining  cases 
otherwise  baffling,  or  by  way  of  checking  apparent  errors. 
The  pupils  were  not  interrogated  directly  by  the  investi- 
gator, nor  were  their  parents  approached,  save  in  isolated 
instances. 


CHAPTER  IV 

NATIONALITY  FACTORS   COMPOSING  THE 
SCHOOL  POPULATION 

Birthplace  of  parents  and  grandparents. 

a.  As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  provision  was  made 
in  the  investigation  for  determining  the  birthplace  not  only 
of  parents,  but  also  of  grandparents  of  the  children  under 
observation.  This  makes  it  possible  to  carry  the  investi- 
gation farther  back  than  is  done  by  the  United  States  Census, 
and  to  determine  more  accurately  the  actual  origin  of  the 
school  population.  That  this  is  important  will  be  shown 
later,  when  the  persistence  of  foreign  language  in  the  home 
of  the  foreign  born  is  studied.  However,  by  way  of  indicat- 
ing the  immediate  origins,  the  following  analysis  of  the 
birthplace  of  parents  is  given: 

2544  cases  were  reported  accurately  enough  for  consideration. 
809  of  these  pupils  were  children  of  American  born  parents. 
1111  were  children  of  foreign  parents,  of  "unmixed"  nationality, 
representing  23  nationalities. 

165  were  children  of  foreign  born  parents,  of  "mixed"  nationality, 
(e.g.,  one  parent  German,  the  other  Norwegian),  representing  43  such 
mixtures. 

459  were  children  of  "mixed"  parents  (e.  g.  one  American  born, 
the  other  foreign  born).     There  were  22  of  these  combinations. 

b.  In  view  of  the  great  number  of  groups  of  parents,  and 
the  numerous  mixtures  it  seemed  wise  to  go  back  one 
more  generation,  and  determine  how  many  of  these  parents 
were  of  native  born,  foreign  born,  or  "mixed"  parentage. 
Accordingly  the  birthplaces  of  grandparents  were  tabulated, 
thus  giving  a  better  index  of  the  true  origin  of  the  children 

19 


20  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

than  could  be  determined  from  the  birthplaces  of  parents 
only.  When  this  tabulation  is  examined,  the  real  process 
of  amalgamation  of  various  nationalities  into  one  American 
type  is  seen  at  its  best,  and  the  process  thus  exhibited  is 
startling  even  to  those  who  have  long  accepted  as  a  platitude 
the  simile  of  the  melting-pot.  The  children,  2490  cases, 
are  divided  into  groups,  in  order  to  show  their  polyglot  origin, 
thus: 

1.  All  four  grandparents  born  in  America.  (Native  born.) 

2.  Three  grandparents  born  in  America,  one  foreign  born. 

3.  Two  born  in  America,  two  foreign  born,  the  latter  "unmixed." 

4.  Two  born  in  America,  two  foreign  born,  the  latter  "mixed." 

5.  One  born  in  America,  three  foreign  born,  the  latter  "unmixed." 

6.  One  born  in  America,  three  foreign  born,  two  of  the  three 
"unmixed." 

7.  One  born  in  America,  three  foreign  born,  all  different  nation- 
alities. 

8.  All  four  foreign  born,  of  the  same  nationality  ("unmixed"). 

9.  Four  foreign  born,  three  "unmixed." 

10.  Four  foreign  born,  two  of  one  nationality,  two  of  another. 

11.  Four  foreign  born,  two  of  one  nationality.,  two  "mixed." 

12.  Four  foreign  born,  all  "mixed,"  i.e.  of  different  nationality. 

The  result  of  the  grouping  is  as  follows: 
Group 


1 

Total     206  i 

cases 

1  nationality 

involved 

2 

95 

it 

12  nationalities  involved 

3 

208 

tt 

14 

a 

11 

4 

49 

a 

24 

it 

a 

5 

55 

tt 

8 

a 

it 

6 

74 

tt 

41 

it 

it 

7 

8 

a 

6 

a 

tt 

8 

1,385 

tt 

31 

it 

tt 

9 

65 

it 

35 

" 

a 

10 

293 

tt 

69 

u 

a 

11 

52 

it 

38 

it 

a 

12 

0 

tt 

0 
279 

it 

a 

Total  2,490 

N  mionality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population  21 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are,  in  a  total  of  2490 
children,  279  different  sources  of  origin!  This  seems  almost 
inconceivable,  but  will  become  plain  on  a  study  of  the  tables 
of  distribution  which  follow.  It  will  be  found  interesting 
to  notice  the  varied  character  of  the  intermarriages,  and  the 
way  in  which  national  characteristics  must  of  necessity  be 
merged  into  some  new  type.  The  nature  of  that  new  type 
is,  beyond  question,  the  concern  of  the  American  school 
before  any  other  governmental  agency. 

A  study  of  the  different  groupings  and  mixtures  will  bring 
out  the  fact  that  in  a  third  generation  there  is  still,  in  a 
majority  of  cases,  a  predominance  of  some  one  original 
nationality.  Where  the  ancestry  is  "four  parts  alike,"  or 
"unmixed,"  this  is  clear.  Where  there  are  three  grand- 
parents of  one  nation,  and  only  one  of  another,  the  predomi- 
nance of  the  one  is  still  unquestionable.  And  when  there 
are  two  grandparents  of  one  nationality,  and  the  other  two 
of  differing  nationalities,  the  predominance  of  the  two  who 
are  alike  must  be  conceded.1  On  the  other  hand,  the  cases 
of  two  of  one  nationality  and  the  other  two  of  another  may 
be  considered  as  equally  mixed,  whatever  the  actual  biological 
significance  may  be.  This  holds  true,  also,  in  the  few  cases 
where  all  four  grandparents  are  of  different  nations. 

For  purposes  of  comparison,  therefore,  it  has  seemed  wise 
to  form  a  new  grouping  of  the  predominants,  and  to  use  this 
as  a  basis  of  comparison  as  to  various  traits,  with  the  feeling 


1  Heredity,  by  J.  A.  Thomson,  X.  Y.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons;  London,  John 
Murray.  1910.  Page  517.  Social  Aspects  of  Heredity.  "We  have  denned 
heredity  as  the  genetic  relation  between  successive  generations,  and  inheritance 
as  all  that  the  organism  is  or  has  to  start  with  in  virtue  of  its  hereditary  relation 
to  parents  and  ancestors.  .  .  .  The  great  generalisation  known  as  Galton's 
Law  of  Ancestral  Inheritance,  according  to  which  inheritances  are  on  an  average 
made  up  of  a  half  from  the  two  parents,  a  quarter  from  the  four  grandparents,  an 
eighth  from  the  great-grandparents,  and  so  on  may  require  some  adjustment 
as  regards  the  precise  fractions,  and  in  relation  to  cases  of  inter-crossing, 
but  the  general  fact  seems  to  have  been  well  established,  and  it  is  eloquent." 

See  also  pages  50,  51  and  323. 


22  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

that  a  grouping  based  upon  origin  of  grandparents  will  be 
more  trustworthy  in  making  final  conclusions,  than  one 
based  on  the  immediate  parentage.  The  grouping  on  the 
basis  of  predominants  is  shown  in  Table  v. 

The  groups  shown  in  Tables  v  and  vi  are  numbered 
wherever  there  seems  to  be  a  sufficient  number  of  cases  to 
warrant  comparisons  with  reference  to  grades,  school  ad- 
vancement, marks,  and  other  data.  These  comparisons  will 
be  considered  later  in  the  study,  as  the  purpose  in  this  place 
is  simply  to  show  the  varied  number  of  mixtures  that  occur, 
the  ways  in  which  intermarriages  mingle  the  blood  of  all 
nations,  and  the  consequent  social  and  educational  problem. 
With  reference  to  the  second  point,  the  tables  seem  to  show 
that  while  intermarriages  between  northern  European 
nationalities  are  frequent,  the  influence  of  the  Ghetto  tends 
to  keep  the  Southern  European  groups  in  a  purer  state. 
There  are  not  enough  cases  of  non-Jews  to  indicate  whether 
the  intermarriage  of  southern  Gentiles  would  tend  to  become 
more  frequent  than  of  Jews,  although  the  fact  that  there  are 
certain  Italian-Irish  and  Italian-Swedish  alliances  might 
indicate  a  trend  toward  the  same  type  of  intermarriage  as 
more  clearly  shown  for  the  northern  groups,  wherever 
propinquity  occurs.  The  figures,  however,  warrant  no 
conclusion's,  unless  the  fact  of  the  indiscriminate  mixtures 
of  the  northern  nations  may  be  considered  as  giving  a  basis 
for  reasoning  that,  given  analogous  conditions  of  mixed 
residence  in  our  cities,  the  same  mixtures  would  occur, 
whatever  the  nationalities  involved.  This  is  a  sociological 
study  which  is  rather  aside  from  the  present  inquiry. 

Birthplace  of  children. 

c.  A  phase  of  the  problem  which  can  not  be  overlooked  is 
the  actual  number  of  children  who  were  themselves  born  in  a 
foreign  country,  and  so  may  be  presumed  to  have  an  even 


Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population  23 


table  v 
grouping  of  school  children  by  nationalities  indicated  by  birthplace 

OF  GRANDPARENTS,  ON  A  BASIS  OF  PREDOMINATING  COUNTRIES  OF 
BIRTH 

1.  Americans,  four  grandparents  native  born 206 

three  grandparents  native  born,  one  foreign  born .  .   95 
two  native  born,  two  foreign  born,  but  in  different 
countries 49       350 

2.  Great  Britain,  selected  as  above: 

Canada 29 

England 46 

Ireland *>4 

Scotland ' n 

Wales 2 

Equal  mixtures  within  the  United  Kingdom 23        165 

3.  Germany 147 

Luxembourg 1 

Switzerland 6 

Equal  mixtures  of  above 23        177 

4.  Norway 215 

5.  Sweden 420 

6.  Austria-Hungary 

Austria,  including  Jews 51 

Bohemia 21 

Hungary 12 

Slavonia 1 

Slovak....'. 40 

Equal  mixtures  of  above 4        129 

7.  Roumanian  Jews 

8.  Russian  Jews 336 

Poland  (German,  Russian  and  Austrian) 38 

Finland 45 

Denmark 22 

Italy 18 

Belgians,  French,  Dutch,  Greeks 9 

Total ' 2,023 


24  Nationality  and  School  Progress 


table  VI 

GROUPING  OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN  BY  NATIONALITIES  INDICATED  BY  BIRTHPLACE  OF 

GRANDPARENTS,  SHOWING  MIXTURES  WHERE  NO  COUNTRY  OF  BIRTH 

PREDOMINATES 

13.  Two  American,  two  Great  Britain 91 

14.  two  German 64 

15.  two  Norway 20 

16.  two  Sweden 25 

two  others  (miscellaneous) 8       208 

17.  Two  Great  Britain,  two  Germany 24 

18.  two  Norway 12 

two  others 18         54 

19.  Two  German,  two  Norway 14 

20.  two  Sweden 15 

two  others 14         43 


21.  Two  Norway,  two  Sweden 78 

22.  two  Denmark 14 

two  others 9        101 

Two  Sweden,  two  others 12 

Two  Austrian,  two  others 10 

2?>.  Two  Russian  Jew,  two  Roumanian  Jew 16 

two  others 3          19 

Unclassified 2 

Each  grandparent  of  a  different  nationality 8 

24.  Negroes,  full  blood,  or  mixed 10 

467 
Predominants,  brought  forward  from  Table  V 2,023 

Grand  Total 2,490 

greater  handicap  in  their  school  progress  than  those  who 
are  born  of  foreign  parentage  in  this  country.  Table  VII 
gives  the  facts  for  this  group.  Of  the  2490  cases  studied, 
but  185  were  themselves  foreign  born.     The  only  country 


Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population 


25 


which  has  a  sufficient  representation  in  this  class  to  be  in 
any  sense  important  is  Russia.  Seventy-eight  of  the 
Russian  Jewish  children  were  born  in  Russia,  and  nine  of 
them  were  born  in  England,  a  total  of  87  in  all.  Of  these  45 
were  located  in  the  Grant  School,  and  nearly  all  of  the  others 
in  the  Franklin  of  St.  Paul  (31  in  fact). 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  comment  further  on  this  table, 
for  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that  outside  of  the  Jewish  group 

TABLE  VII 

TABLE  SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PUPILS  BORN  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES, 
BY  SCHOOLS 


School 


Adams 

Bryant 

Calhoun 

Clay- Jackson 

Franklin 43 

Grant 51 


Number  born 

in  foreign 

country: 

20* 

5 

7 

23 


School 


Number 


Harrison 13 

Holland 8 

Motley 4 

Prescott 7 

Sibley 2 

Van  Buren 2 


Total, 


185 


TABLE  SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PUPILS  BORN  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES, 
BY  PLACES  OF  BIRTH 

Country  of  Birth  Number 

Russia 78 

Canada 23 

Roumania. 15 

Norway 15 

Sweden 11 

England 13  (includes  9  Russian  Jews) 

Austria 10 

Scattering* 20  (not  more  than  3  from  any  1  country) 

Total 185 


♦"Scattering"  includes'ltaly,  Denmark,  South  America,  South  Africa, 
Iceland,  Finland,  Poland,  Germany,  et  al. 


26  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

there  are  so  few  belonging  to  any  one  nationality  group  or 
to  any  one  school  that  there  is  every  ground  for  the  statement 
that  the  present  inquiry  is  concerned  not  with  the  problem 
of  teaching  the  foreignborn,  but  of  administering  to  the 
needs  of  the  children  of  the  foreignborn,  and  to  their 
children's  children." 

Language  persistence  in  the  home. 

d.  A  careful  study  was  made  of  the  parents  who  were  foreign 
born,  in  order  to  discover  whether  the  language  of  birth 
persisted  as  the  language  of  the  home,  even  after  a  period 
of  years.  For  this  purpose,  the  parents  were  listed  separately 
so  as  to  get  the  comparison  for  both  fathers  and  mothers, 
where  they  were  intermarried  with  American  or  English 
born.  The  tables  which  follow  give  the  foreign  born  who 
speak  English  in  the  home — a  good  sign  of  their  Americani- 
zation, in  the  popular  estimate;  the  native  born  who  never- 
theless speak  a  foreign  language  as  the  home  language;  a 
grouping  of  the  foreign  born  who  cling  to  their  native 
language,  showing  how  many  years  they  have  lived  in  this 
country;  and  finally,  a  table  showing  the  comparisons  by 
percentages,  of  the  various  nationalities  involved.  This  last 
table  brings  in  some  surprising  information.  Despite  the 
campaign  of  propaganda  for  "Kultur"  in  America  with  the 
Pan-Germanic  dream  of  a  German-speaking  United  States 
in  the  next  century,  the  Germans  head  the  list  in  acquiring 
the  English  language  as  the  medium  of  the  home!  Of  201 
German  parents  listed,  123,  or  61.2%  speak  English  habitu- 
ally in  the  home.  The  next  best  record  was  made  by  the 
Danes,  26  out  of  63  parents  speaking  English — 41.3%.  The 
poorest  showing  was  made  by  the  Finns,  only  one  out  of  86 
using  English.  The  Slovaks  are  not  much  better,  five  out 
of  77  having  given  up  the  home  tongue.  And  the  Scandi- 
navians, generally  considered  to  be  loyal  Americans,  do  not 


Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population  27 

show  up  as  well  as  one  would  expect  when  only  33%c  Swedes 
and  32.3%  Norwegians  have  acquired  the  new  language  as 
a  part  of  their  new  heritage.  These  figures  must  be  studied 
in  the  light  of  the  accompanying  statistics,  showing  the 
length  of  time  the  non-English  speaking  parents  have  lived 
in  this  country.  When  it  is  noted  that  1 1%  of  the  Germans, 
\7%  of  the  Swedes,  and  19r^  of  the  Norwegians,  have  lived 
in  this  country  over  thirty  years,  and  still  use, the  home 
language  in  the  domestic  circle,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
this  one  of  the  generally  accepted  tests  of  Americanization 
throws  definite  doubt  upon  the  real  assimilation  of  these 
peoples.  Even  more  significant  is  the  case  of  the  American 
born  who  do  not  speak  English  in  the  home.  In  nine 
Swedish  homes,  six  Norwegian  and  five  German,  both 
parents  were  borh  in  the  United  States,  but  use  the  language 
of  the  old  country.  Further,  in  the  case  of  20  native  born 
fathers,  and  of  64  mothers,  English  has  been  dropped  (or 
never  adopted)  as  the  home  language!  .  The  comparative 
influence  of  the  husband  or  the  wife  in  determining  the  home 
atmosphere  is  significant  in  this  connection. 

Some  cases  of  individual  homes  will  make  the  situation 
better  understood.  A  Norwegian  husband  married  an 
American  born  wife.  Altho  the  husband  has  lived  in  this 
country  for  35  years,  Norwegian  is  the  home  language. 
Another  case  is  similar  save  that  the  husband  has  been  here 
29  years.  To  balance  this  is  the  case  of  an  American  born 
husband,  of  American  born  parents,  whose  Norwegian  wife 
has  been  here  for  30  years,  but  still  uses  the  Norwegian 
language  in  the  home,  altho  the  husband  speaks  English  at 
home.  His  independence  is  not  shown  by  the  American 
husband  whose  Swedish  wife  has  been  here  34  years,  and  still 
dominates  to  such  an  extent  that  Swedish  is  the  language 
spoken  by  both  at  home!  A  Norwegian  born  husband  has 
a  Scotch  born  wife.     The  husband  has  lived  in  the  United 


28 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


States  45  years.  Norwegian  is  the  home  language!  A 
Swiss  husband  has  been  here  31  years;  his  Austrian  wife 
has  been  here  28  years;  they  speak  German  in  the  home.  An 
Irishman  of  Irish  parentage  married  a  Minneapolis  born 
girl  whose  father  was  born  in  France,  and  mother  in 
Germany.  She  speaks  German  in  the  home,  he  speaks 
English.  Where  a  Swedish  husband  has  a  Norwegian  wife, 
there  is  a.natural  curiosity  as  to  the  outcome.  In  two  cases 
noted,  the  wife  has  had  to  yield  and  Swedish  is  spoken  at 
home,  but  in  a  third  case  the  wife  came  out  victorious  and 
they  both  speak  Norwegian.  These  cases  are  noted  at 
random,  and  it  is  not  claimed  that  they  are  typical,  but  it 
can  not  be  denied  that  they  point  to  a  serious  condition  that 
merits  definite  attention. 

TABLE  VIII 

COMPARATIVE  TABLE  OF  NATIONALITIES,  SHOWING  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF 

FOREIGN  BORN  PARENTS  WHO  HAVE  ADOPTED  ENGLISH  AS  THE  LANGUAGE 

OF  THE  HOME 


Nationality 


Total  Parents 


Bohemian 

Slovak 

Norway 

Sweden 

German 

Austria 

Danes 

Finns 

Roumanian  Jews 
Russian  Jews .... 
Italians 


Average . 


36 

77 

396 

802 

201 

126 

63 

86 

234 

526 

37 


Number  Speak- 
ing English 


6 

5 

128 

265 

123 

10 

26 

1 

35 

45 

3 


Percentage 

Speaking  Eng 

lish 


16.6 

6.5 

32.3 

33.0 

61.2 

7.9 

41.3 

1.1 

15.0 

8.5 

8.1 


21.0 


Figure  one  shows  this  comparison  in  graphic  form. 


Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population 


20 


"      TABLE  IX 

PERSISTENCE  OF  FOREIGN  LANGUAGE  SHOWN  BY  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGES  OF 

FOREIGN  BORN  PARENTS,  WHO  RETAIN  THE  FOREIGN  TONGUE  AS  THE 

HOME  LANGUAGE,  ALTHOUGH  THEY  HAVE  LIVED  IN  AMERICA  TEN 

YEARS  OR  MORE 


Total 
Parents 

Year? 

Lived  int  the  United 

States 

Nationality 

10-19  inc. 

20-29 

3C 

-more 

Total 

No. 

c~c 

No. 

% 

No. 

■% 

Germany 

201 

14 

7.0 

9 

4.4 

22 

10.9 

22.3 

Denmark 

•63 

5 

7.9 

7 

11.1 

5 

7.9 

26.9 

Norway 

396 

69 

17.4 

48 

12.1 

76 

19.2 

48.7 

Sweden 

802 

93 

11.6 

166 

20.7 

134 

16.7 

49.0 

Austria 

126 

30 

23.8 

23 

18.2 

12 

9.5 

51.5 

Roumanian  Jew. 

234 

123 

52.6 

18 

7.7 

5 

2.1 

62.4 

Italians 

37 

5 

13.5 

16 

43.2 

3 

8.1 

64.8 

Bohemians 

36 

6 

16.6 

10 

27.7 

10 

27.7 

72.0 

77 
526 

22 
237 

28.5 
45.0 

20 
145 

25.9 

27.5 

18 
32 

23.3 
6.1 

77.7 

Russian  Jews.  .  . 

78.6 

Finnish 

86 

38 

44.1 
Aver.      24.4 

23 

26.7 
Aver.      20 . 4 

14 

16.2 
Aver.    13.4 

87.0 
58.2 

Two  Swedes,  one  German,  one  Finn,  and  one  Russian  have  lived  in  this 
country  fifty  years,  and  still  speak  the  home  language!  Six  Norwegians  and 
five  Swedes  have  been  in  this  country  forty-five  years  or  more,  and  speak  their 
native  language  in  the  home. 

These  comparisons  are  shown  graphically  in  figure  2. 

The  tables  show  conclusively  that  only  a  fifth  of  our 
immigrants  adopt  English  as  the  language  of  the  home,  and 
that  more  than  one  half  will  not  speak  English  even  after 
they  have  lived  here  for  ten  years  or  more.  More  than  that, 
there  is  a  tendency  to  continue  the  foreign  language  in  the 
home  during  the  second  generation,  even  in  the  case  of 
marriage  with  one  of  different  nationality. 

The  condition  is  one  that  certainly  needs  attention,  al- 
though it  is  a  question  how  far  the  school  can  combat  the 
tendency,  or  how  far  it  should.  The  movement  to  insist  on 
English  as  the  language  of  instruction  in  all  schools  will  cer- 
tainly prove  the  most  effective  method  of  dealing  with  the 
situation,  unless  the  laws  governing  naturalization  be 
amended  to  refuse  citizenship  to  all  who  are  not  willing  to 


30 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


Figure  I  (on  left) 
Showing  comparative  percentages  of  foreignborn  parents  who  speak 

English  in  the  home 

Neutral  zone  indicates  foreignborn  parents  who  have  been  in  the  United 

States  less  than  10  years,  and  speak  the  foreign  language  in  the  home 


1 

/  / 

JL_  1. 

s 

\  '' 

r   y 

o 

t-.  I. 

/ 

SL& 

nt 

S^n 

ifei 

^ 

w.\ 

nA 

f1™ 

it 

kffi 

^ 

^,*« 

>7V 

A 

T'd~°, 

f" 

i« 

BJXh 

11 

bad 

/'<»- 

>v 

s> 

i 

a 

<t 

•/ 

« 

2*tir 

*; 

lijw,UL  + 

JLI^ 

4' 

/■■e^ 

Aj-jj 

!? 

t 

lo 

V, 

L 

!  w 

j 

fifl^a^S 

(x/riA* 

>--o^ 

vt^o 

>i^ 

^ 

5-          &> 

n 

.y 

"/ 

p 

r^ 

,  - 

QalievUt. 

|/S  <h£ 

^ftHJci 

.•v*~< 

\S 

7 

i 

o 

v. 

j 

Tu  YW  VU  CUv 

>-      43*- 

yi 

! 

^J^ 

^ 

& 

M 

'? 

'« 

r 

j       ! 

.  i 

SUrtchis 

]    ! 

b\ 

stst 

Pw 

y 

7 

b/e 

it"! 
i    i    i 

-1    i 

n 

iioyydL4/ 

4/-H 

4 

k)uV*Jk 

4S 

2 

i.) 

'* 

I    i    1 

!• 

Su/V^^ 

iva/- 

fey.  4 

y*l 

itu 

V . 

£ 

*| 

to 

| 

Figure  2  (on  right) 
Showing  comparative  persistence  of  foreign  language  in  homes  of  foreign- 
born parents  who  have  lived  in  the  United  States  10  years  or  longer 

adopt  the  language  of  the  country  as  well  as  its  laws.  This 
last  expedient  would  involve  insisting  that  the  wife  in  the 
home  learn  the  new  language  as  well  as  the  husband  who 
needs  it  as  an  economic  necessity.  The  refusal  of  many  of 
the  foreign  born  women  to  learn  the  English  language  is 
largely  responsible  for  the  continuance  of  the  language  in 


Nationality  Factors  Composing  the  School  Population  M 

the  home.  Another  potent  factor  is  the  influence  of  pastors 
of  the  churches,  who  believe  that  the  only  way  in  which  they 
can  maintain  their  hold  on  their  flocks  is  to  preach  in  the 
home  tongue.  • 

If  the  test  of  fitness  for  citizenship  were:  first,  that  not 
only  the  applicahTpJuTlilso  his  family,  were  able  to  speak 
English;  second,  that  the  applicant  were  able  to  adduce 
proof  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  reading  newspapers  printed 
in  English;  and  third,  that  if  a  church  attendant,  the 
applicant  attended  services  conducted  in  English,  there 
would  be  quite  definite  evidence  that  he  was  really  assimi- 
lated. Without  such  evidence,  there  would  remain  a  serious 
doubt.  Thus  the  movement  extends  far  beyond  the  scope 
of  the  school. 


CHAPTER  V 
NATIONALITY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS 

The  comparison  of  nationality  and  school  progress  will 
be  considered  under  three  general  heads;  (1)  its  relationship 
to  retardation;  (2)  its  relation  to  acceleration;  and  (3)  its 
relation  to  school  marks. 

1.  Retardation.  Basis  of  computation.  In  a  study  of 
this  sort,  where  there  is  a  desire  merely  to  make  certain 
comparisons  between  groups  of  pupils  in  the  same  system 
and  with  no  idea  of  working  out  a  survey  of  an  entire  school 
system  or  of  comparing  the  system  with  any  national  or 
sectional  standards  of  retardation,  there  is  really  no  need 
for  conforming  to  accepted  standards,  or  of  meeting  any 
uniform  requirements.  Yet,  inasmuch  as  it  was  felt  that 
the  most  satisfactory  results  would  follow  an  application  of 
generally  accepted  methods  unless  they  were  discovered  to 
fall  short  of  giving  a  satisfactory  basis  for  comparative 
results,  the  attempt  was  made  to  apply  a  scientific  age-grade 
table  which  would  fit  the  situation.  As  the  measure  of 
normal  age  for  a  given  grade  should  be  refined  as  much  as 
possible  to  meet  actual  conditions,  it  seemed  best  to  apply 
the  standard  of  Dr.  F.  P.  Bachman  as  given  in  his  "Problems 
of  School  Administration,  "  under  the  heading  of  "Objective 
Standards  of  Measurement,"  following  the  general  plan  of 
the  age-grade  Table  XL,  p.  224,  where  the  normal  age  limit 
of  entering  the  1A  Grade  is  given  as  6  to  6}4  of  entering 
the  IB  as  6}4  to  7,  and  so  on.  The  normal  time  for  com- 
pleting these  grades  would  be  1A,  6^  up  to  7;  for  IB,  7  up 
to  ll/2\  and  so  on.  These  measures  are  much  refined  and 
restricted,  when  the  limits  of  Grade  1  from  6  to  8,  as  given 

32 


Nationality  and  School  Progress  33 

by  Ay  res,1  or  from  6  to  7,  of  Strayer,2  are  considered.  And 
yet  when  a  system  is  studied  which  employs  half  yearly 
promotion,  it  is  evident  that  such  refined  measures  come  to 
meet  the  exact  conditions,  and  are  quite  scientific  in  appli- 
cation. Under  the  conditions  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul, 
where  six  years  is  the  legal  minimum  age  for  first  entering 
school,  and  is  commonly  interpreted  as  meaning  that  a  child 
who  has  reached  his  sixth  birthday  is  thereby  qualified  to 
enter  school,  but  one  who  has  not  completed  his  fifth  year, 
is  not  qualified,  it  is  evident  that  the  Bachman  standard 
would  be  satisfactory,  save  only  that  there  should  be  a 
further  refinement  made  to  meet  the  divisions  of  the  school 
year,  so  as  to  give  an  exact  measure  for  completion  of  each 
grade.  By  this  is  meant  a  determination  of  the  exact  age 
at  which  a  child  not  quite  six  years  of  age  in  September, 
would  be  when  he  enters  school  at  the  second  semester  of  the 
year,  and  the  corresponding  age  which  a  child  who  is  too 
young  to  enter  in  February  would  reach  when  he  actually 
enters  in  September.  Thus,  generally  speaking,  the  term 
opens  in  the  first  week  in  September  and  the  second  term, 
the  first  week  in  February,3  in  the  Twin  Cities.  So  a  child 
entering  the  First  Beginning  grade  (known  in  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul  as  the  IB  grade)  at  the  age  of  six  years  and  no 
months,  in  September,  would  be  six  years  and  five  months 
of  age  when  he  completed  the  IB  grade  by  February  1. 

The  child  entering  the  IB  grade  on  February  1  would  be 
six  years  and  five  months  old  when  he  completed  the  grade 
at  the  close  of  the  year  in  June.  But  this  latter  child  would 
be  six  years  and  seven  months  of  age  before  he  could  enter 


1  "Laggards  in  Our  Schools,"  p.  38. 

2  "Age-Grade  Census  of  Schools  and  Colleges,"  p.  12. 

3  For  the  school  year,  1917-18;  in  1918-19  the  3-quarter  system  was  intro- 


duced. 


34  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

the  1A  Grade  in  the  following  September.  Or  to  put  it  in 
another  way,  the  child  who  is  five  years  and  eleven  months 
of  age  on  February  1,  and  therefore  ineligible  to  enroll, 
would  be  six  years  and  six  months  of  age,  before  he  could 
begin  the  IB  Grade  legally  in  September.  Therefore, 
to  be  strictly  accurate,  one  would  put  the  entering  age  for 
Grade  IB  in  September  at  from  six  years  to  six  years  and 
seven  months,  inclusive,  and  the  entering  age  for  Grade  IB 
in  February  as  from  six  years  to  six  years  and  five  months, 
inclusive.  This  would  make  the  corresponding  ages  for  the 
last  six  divisions  of  the  elementary  grades  which  were  studied 
in  the  investigation,  range  as  follows: 

Normal  age  limits  for  Minneapolis  on  Sept.  1,  of  any  year: 

Grade  6B,  11  years,  no  months  to  11  years,  7  months,  inc. 


6A,  11 

"  7 

"  to  12 

'  0 

"   inc. 

7B,  12 

"  0 

"  to  12 

'  7 

"   inc. 

7A,  12 

"  7 

"  to  13 

'  0 

"   inc. 

8B,  13 

"  0 

"  to  13 

'  7 

u      inc. 

8A,  13 

"  7 

"  to  14 

'  0 

"   inc. 

This  "cross  section"  of  the  ages  which  would  be  normal 
for  any  one  of  the  six  grades  shown  is  of  course  based  on  the 
actual  ages  which  would  be  normal  in  accordance  with  the 
the  conditions  already  indicated,  and  so  the  apparent  over- 
lapping of  one  month  in  each  successive  grade  is  accounted 
for  by  the  differing  times  of  beginning,  i.e.,  September  and 
January.  This  "cross  section"  was  used  as  a  measure  of  the 
relative  retardation  or  acceleration  of  the  pupils  under 
observation,  and  as  has  already  been  said,  it  is  immaterial 
whether  it  is  scientific  or  not,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  all  that 
was  sought  was  some  agency  for  determining  a  rational 
dividing  line  for  comparative  purposes.  The  result  proved 
that  it  was  a  satisfactory  line  for  the  Minneapolis  children, 
for  out  of  2070  cases  examined,  854  retardates  and  678 
accelerates   were   found.     But   when   the   same   scale   was 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


35 


applied  to  the  405  St.  Paul  cases  available,  it  was  found  that 
there  would  be  an  undue  number  of  retardates  and  practically 
no  accelerates!  Therefore,  while  a  uniform  scale  might  be 
of  value  for  comparative  studies  of  the  total  number  of 
schools  under  consideration,  yet  to  draw  conclusions  con- 
cerning groups  of  nationalities  under  supposedly  constant 
conditions  there  must  be  approximately  the  same  number 
of  accelerates  as  of  retardates;  otherwise  a  relative  com- 
parison of  the  advanced  with  the  retarded  pupils  or  groups 
would  be  impossible.  So  a  new  basis  was  sought  for  the 
St.  Paul  schools.  Obviously  the  simplest  way  out  was  to 
take  the  median  age  of  each  grade,  and  with  this  as  a  basis, 
work  out  a  table  with  the  same  relative  inclusive  limits  as 
for  Minneapolis.     This  was  done,  with  the  following  results: 

Normal  age  limits  for  St.  Paul  on  Sept.  1  of  any  year,  based  on  median  ages 
for  Grades  vi.  vn,  vni,  in  three  schools. 


Grade  6B,  11  years 
6 A,  12  ' 
7B,  12 
7A,  13 
8B,  13 
8A,  14 


6  months  to  12  years,  1  month,    inc. 

1 

6 

1 

6 

1 


to  12 

"    6 

inc. 

to  13 

"    1 

inc. 

to  13 

"    6 

"       inc. 

to  14 

"    1 

inc. 

to  14 

"    6 

"      inc. 

Trying  this  table  on  the  405  cases,  there  were  found  145 
retardates  and  166  accelerates— a  slightly  different  per- 
centage from  the  Minneapolis  group,  but  near  enough  to  be 
satisfactory  for  group  comparisons.  In  the  case  of  each 
city,  there  was  a  group  of  25%  in  the  "normal  age"  group, 
as  compared  with  75%  who  were  in  the  retarded-accelerated 
group.  And  for  the  total  number  of  cases  from  both  cities, 
2475,  the  total  retardates  were  999  and  the  total  accelerates, 
834. 

1.  Study  of  the  Retardates  by  Nationality  Croups.  The 
retarded  pupils  were  grouped  under  the  25  heads  indi- 
cated in   the  division  into  nationalities   according   to   the 


36 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


predominance  of  nationality  as  shown  by  Countries  of  birth 
of  grandparents,  and  summarized  in  Tables  v  and  vi.  The 
results  are  shown  in  Table  x  following: 


TABLE  X 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  RETARDATION  ACCORDING  TO  NATIONALITY  GROUPS 


Group 

Nation 

Total 
Cases 

Number 
Retarded 

Percent 
Retarded 

1 

TJ.  S  

350 

H65 

177 

215 

420 

129 

99 

336 

38 

45 

22 

18 

112 
56 
76 

107 

173 
63 
24 

153 

21 

22 

"     11 

11 

32.0 

2 
3 
4 

Grt.  Brit 

Germany 

Norway 

35.1 

42.9 
49.7 

5 

Sweden 

41.2 

6 

7 
8 
9 

Austria-Hungary. 
Roumanian  Jew. 

Russian  Jew 

Poland 

48.8 
24.2 
45.5 

55.2 

10 

Finland 

48.8 

11 
12 

Denmark 

Italy 

50.0 
61.1 

Total 

2,014 

831 

Ave.       41.2 
Median  47.2 

Nationality  and  School  Progress 


37 


TABLE  XI 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  RETARDATION  ACCORDING  TO  NATIONALITY  GROUPS 
SHOWING  RETARDATION  OF  "EQUAL  MIXTURES" 


Group 
No. 

Nations 

Total 
Cases 

Number 
Retarded 

Percent 
Retarded 

13 
14 

U.  S.  &  Great  Brit... 
Germany 

91 
64 

20 
25 
24 
12 
14 
15 
78 
14 

16 
10 

38 
21 
6 
7 
7 
7 
6 
4 
26 
6 

3 

7 

41.7 
31.2 

15 

30.0 

16 

Sweden 

28.0 

17 

18 

Great  Brit.  &  Germany 
Norway 

29.1 

58.3 

19 

20 

Germany  &  Norway . 
Sweden 

42.8. 
26.6 

21 

22 

Norway  &  Sweden. . .  . 
Denmark 

35.9 

42.8 

23 

Roumanian  &  Russian 
Tew 

18.7 

24 

Negro 

70.0 

Total 

383 

140 

Ave.      36.8 
Median  33.6 

The  Negroes  are  included  in  this  group  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  cases 
observed  all  seemed  to  be  of  mixed  blood. 


38 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


2.  Acceleration.  It  will  be  readily  seen  that  there  are 
definite  differences  in  the  percentage  of  retardation  in  the 
various  groups.  But  it  is  desirable  to  investigate  the 
accelerates  in  the  same  way,  before  coming  to  any  conclusions, 
for  unless  the  groups  which  stand  well  in  respect  to  retarda- 
tion also  stand  above  the  average  in  acceleration,  no  con- 
clusions can  be  drawn.  So  a  similar  comparison  of  pupils 
accelerated  follows: 


TABLE  XII 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  ACCELERATION  ACCORDING  TO  NATIONALITY  GROUPS 


Group 

Nation 

Total 
Cases 

Number 
Accelerates 

Percent 
Accelerates 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

U.S 

Great  Britain. . . 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austro-Hungary . 
Roumanian  Jew. 

Russian  Jew 

Poland 

350 

165 

177 

215 

420 

129 

99 

336 

38 

45 

22 

18 

136 

551 

67 

55 

145 

27 

51 

102 

5 

15 

9 

6 

38.8 
30.9 
37.8 
25.6 
34.5 
20.9 
51.5 
30.3 
13.2 

10 

Finland 

33.3 

11 
12 

Denmark 

Italy 

40.9 

33.3 

Total 

2,014 

669 

33.2 
Median  33 . 3 

Nationality  and  School  Progress 


39 


TABLE  XIII 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  ACCELERATION  ACCORDING  TO  NATIONAL  GROUPS. 

SHOWING  ACCELERATION  OF  "EQUAL  MIXTURES*' 


Group 

Xations 

Total 
Cases 

Number 
Accelerates 

Percent 
Accelerates 

13 
14 
15 
16 

U.  S.  &  Great  Brit... 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

91 
64 

20 

25 

38 

20 

9 

11 

11 
3 
6 
8 

30 
4 

6 
3 

41.7 
31.2 
45.0 
44.0 

17 

18 

Great  Britain   &   Ger 

many 

Xorwav 

24 
12 
14 
15 
78 
14 

16 
10 

45.8 
25.0 

19 
20 

Germany  &  Norway .  . 
Sweden 

42.8 
53.3 

21 
22 
23 

24 

Norway  &  Sweden.  . .  . 

Denmark 

Roumanian  &  Russian 

Jew 

Negroes 

Total 

38.4 
28.5 

37.5 
30.0 

383                   149 

38.9 
Median  40 . 1 

In  analyzing  these  tables  there  will  be  noted  at  once  a 
very  decided  difference  in  range  between  the  groups.  Look- 
ing first  at  the  pure  national  groups,  a  range  of  from  24.2% 
to  61.1%  is  noted  in  the  retardates,  and  a  range  of  13.2% 
to  51.5%  in  the  accelerates.  The  expected  rule  of  "low 
retardation,  high  acceleration,"  does  not  hold  entirely, 
however.  With  so  large  a  range  and  so  small  a  number  of 
groups,  neither  the  median  nor  average  is  a  very  satisfactory 
measure.  However,  we  see  Roumania  standing  first  in 
each  list,  with  only  24.2%  retardates,  and  51.5%  accelerates. 
The  United  States  is  second  in  low  retardation,  and  third 
in  high  acceleration.     Great  Britain  is  third  in  retardation, 


40 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


but  eighth  in  acceleration.  Sweden  is*  fourth  in  retards, 
and  fifth  in  accelerates,  and  Germany  interchanges  with  her, 
being  fifth  in  retards,  and  fourth  in  accelerates.  Poland, 
eleventh  in  retardates,  is  twelfth  in  accelerates,  but  Italy, 
twelfth  in  retards,  is  sixth  in  accelerates,  and  Denmark, 
tenth  in  retards,  is  second  in  acceleration. 

Figure  3  (on  left) 
Relative  retardation  of  various  national  groups  by  percentages  of  number 
retarded  to  whole  number  in  the  group 
Neutral   zone   shows   percentage   normal   in   age-grade   distribution 


ft 

KiA 

^ 

X 

9* 

3L 

Roi 

_maJu-Zj 

i,n  7lY\f 

•< 

V-fa 

\ 

/ 

s 

3i 

c 

u 

°l 

A.iz 

3^ 

% 

r 

c. 

r 

;/ 

3r 

it 

36 

J 

% 

GriJ 

rr 

. 

j 

i? 

% 

9, 

rV 

id 

*r 

L 

HI 

£ 

% 

S 

vye-d*! 

v. 

J 

w 

% 

c 

r«. 

yj 

t^a 

-  v 

-y 

1 

f* 

9% 

\U 

>*?icg  yv 

>/ 

J 

*i 

% 

k 

TW 

^ 

1° 

n> 

j€ 

yr 

¥ 

l4 

./UiS 

5.» 

* 

c 

•J 

% 

t 

'  / 

n 

\\ 

L  ) 

vd 

z 

e1.  x% 

f*>  ^21 

§ 

»a 

)% 

& 

tff\ 

<  n 

Ui 

h. 

?- 

Y  \ 

- 

t\-\'\ 

L 

o.) 

i 

A 

n 

I 

T 

Al 

0 

•y\ 

'A 

y 

yiy.i 

\ 

f* 

rn 

' 

k 

H 

I 

P^ 

K 

rn 

■  cc 

r/ 

JT).Q 

l/< 

o|k 

m.  >->-* 

¥< 

r 

f 

\> 

l* 

n 

d 

A 

'-% 

$1 

/? 

f 

j 

r* 

o-l 

1 

t/J 

\°      1 

fejy 

J 

3J 

y* 

L 

Figure  4  (on  right) 
Relative  acceleration  of  various  national  groups,  by  percentages 


Nationality  and  School  Progress  41 

A  study  of  the  equally  mixed  groups  gives  us  some  idea 
of  the  effect  of  intermarriage.  The  alliance  of  Norwegians 
and  Swedes  produces  a  distinctly  higher  percentage  of 
accelerates  and  lower  percentage  of  retardates  than  in  either 
nationality  when  pure.  The  Scandinavians,  also,  seem  to 
improve  when  allied  with  Americans.  The  Russian  Jews 
also  improve  as  a  result  of  marriage  with  the  Roumanians, 
and  the  latter  improve  in  percentage  of  retardation.  The 
Norwegian  Danish  alliance  is  advantageous  to  the  former, 
but  not  so  happy  for  the  latter.  In  fact,  the  only  Scandi- 
navian alliance  which  does  not  show  a  distinct  gain  is  that 
of  the  Norwegians  with  the  United  Kingdom.  Americans 
and  Germans  do  not  show  a  marked  tendency  in  either 
direction,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Great  Britain 
group. 

All  in  all,  there  is  enough  difference  between  groups  to  add 
weight  to  the  contention  that  there  is  a  difference  in  the 
tendency  of  nationalities  to  vary  in  the  matter  of  retardation. 
Further  comment  will  be  reserved  until  the  comparison  on  a 
basis  of  school  marks. 

3.  Comparison  of  national  groups  on  a  basis  of  school  marks. 
The  method  of  procedure  in  securing  and  evaluating  the 
school  marks  is  necessarily  to  be  explained  before  taking  up 
the  results  of  the  comparisons  of  nationality  groups. 

The  investigation  was  made  during  the  second  semester 
of  the  school  year,  and  it  was  therefore  possible  to  get  access 
to  the  teachers'  registers  giving  the  records  of  each  pupil 
in  each  subject  for  the  semester  just  closed,  and  also  his 
final  promotion  mark,  or  his  record  of  non-promotion.  There- 
fore this  record  was  made  the  basis  of  the  comparison.  The 
marks  were  transferred  directly  from  the  teacher's  registers, 
and  thus  had  the  advantage  of  being  taken  from  the  original 
entries  rather  than  from  transcripts  filed  in  the  principal's 
office,  or  in  a  central  office.     This  made  for  accuracy,  and 


42  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

made  it  possible  to  consult  teachers  and  principal  about 
doubtful  cases  or  about  seeming  inconsistencies  or  incon- 
gruities. 

The  marks  were  recorded  presumably  on  a  monthly  basis, 
but  there  was  no  uniform  ruling  in  the  schools  as  to  the 
number  of  entries  required  for  the  semester.  Thus  some 
of  the  schools  entered  three  marks  in  each  subject  for  the 
semester,  some  four  and  some  five.  The  marks  were 
designated  by  letters,  except  in  the  case  of  two  St.  Paul 
schools.  In  Minneapolis  the  symbols  were:  A,  highest, 
B,  very  good,  C,  medium,  D,  poor,  F,  failure.  In  a  few 
cases  a  grade  of  E  was  given,  meaning  "conditional."  As 
the  departmental  system  was  used  in  the  last  three  grades 
in  most  of  the  schools,  in  many  cases  no  average  grade  for 
the  semester  was  given,  but  the  pupil  was  promoted  by 
subject.  Accordingly  it  became  necessary  to  work  out  an 
index  of  comparison,  that  each  pupil  might  be  ranked  both 
in  individual  subjects,  and  in  an  average  of  all  subjects.  A 
basis  was  sought  which  might  admit  of  a  definite  ranking 
whereby  a  fine  enough  unit  might  be  used  to  prevent  an 
undue  number  of  "ties,"  and  after  considerable  experimenta- 
tion, the  following  plan  was  adopted: 

In  most  cases,  marks  were  entered  three  times  in  each 
subject  for  the  semester.  If  the  three  marks  were  all  "A," 
thus,  A-A-A,  the  combination  was  given  an  arbitrary  value 
of  10,  on  a  numerical  basis.  If  the  mark  for  one  month  was 
"B,"  one  point  was  deducted.  Thus  the  combinations 
A-A-B,  A-B-A,  B-A-A,  were  given  a  value  of  9.  In  like 
manner  the  combinations  A-B-B,  B-A-B,  B-B-A,  A-A-C, 
A-C-A,  C-A-A-,  were  evaluated  at  8.  B-B-B,  A-B-C, 
C-B-A,  C-A-B,  A-C-B,  B-A-C,  were  given  the  value  7,  and 
so  on  for  all  possible  combinations,  down  to  F-F-F,  which 
was  evaluated  0.  A  similar  value  was  worked  out  for 
schools  which  gave  four  and  five  marks  per  subject  during 


Nationality  and  School  Progress  43 

the  semester.  The  result  was  that  it  was  possible  to  rank 
pupils  in  each  grade  and  school  so  that  there  was  surprisingly 
little  duplication  of  grades,  or  "tieing,"  even  in  specific  sub- 
jects, and  still  less  in  the  averages,  in  any  school.  The 
subjects  in  which  there  was  the  greatest  tendency  to  simi- 
larity in  the  grades  assigned  were  the  motor  activities,  manual 
training,  domestic  science,  singing,  drawing  and  penman- 
ship. In  many  schools  there  was  but  little  attempt  made 
at  a  refinement  of  grading,  or  of  ranking  the  pupils  in  these 
subjects.  When  the  school  marks  of  the  children  were 
taken  from  the  teachers'  registers,  the  expectation  was  that 
valid  comparisons  could  be  made  between  the  progress  of 
children  in  the  so-called  "formal"  subjects  of  the  course, 
and  the  newer  "motor  activity"  group.  Thus,  it  was 
planned  to  discover  what  differences,  if  any,  existed  in  the 
ability  to  excel  in  arithmetic,  and  to  do  well  in  drawing  or 
in  manual  training.  But  when  the  marks  given  in  the 
latter  groups  were  studied,  it  was  found  that  so  little  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  discrimination  between  pupils  in  the 
assigning  of  marks,  that  the  recorded  scale  meant  almost 
nothing  in  the  way  of  discriminating  the  achievement  of  the 
child.  For  example,  one  class  of  thirty-three  girls  in  cooking 
in  the  Seventh  B  grade  of  School  No.  8  were,  with  five 
exceptions,  given  the  grade  of  "7"  on  a  scale  of  ten,  for  the 
semester  mark.  This  condition  was  duplicated  in  the 
various  schools  in  the  subjects  of  penmanship,  manual  train- 
ing, music,  drawing  and  domestic  science.  In  these  subjects, 
the  school  mark  merely  indicates  the  fact  of  the  pupil's 
maintaining  an  average  grade  of  work  which  justifies  his 
promotion  or  non-promotion,  without  any  very  serious 
attempt  to  differentiate  between  abilities  or  achievements 
of  pupils.  The  result  of  this  unsatisfactory  ranking  of  pupils 
was  the  complete  abandonment  of  the  projected  study  of 
relationships   between    the    two   differing   types   of   school 


44  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

subjects,  even  though  the  "content"  subjects  were  graded 
in  a  reasonably  satisfactory  way,  as  contrasted  with  the 
"motor"  subjects. 

The  marks  for  boys  and  girls  were  listed  separately  in  all 
schools,  and  they  were  kept  separate  throughout  the  investi- 
gation. Medians  and  25  and  75  percentiles  were  then 
calculated  for  the  entire  number  studied  in  both  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul,  for  the  entire  number  of  schools  in  each  city, 
and  for  each  grade  separately,  both  for  the  city  at  large,  and 
for  the  individual  school  and  grade,  for  boys  and  girls 
separately.  This  made  it  possible  to  study  the  individual 
schools  in  relation  to  the  city  at  large,  and  the  results  of  this 
study  gave  an  interesting  object  lesson  of  the  value  of  such 
a  study  to  a  superintendent  or  supervisor,  and  as  such  is 
worthy  to  be  interpolated  here  as  a  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  administration,  even  tho  not  strictly  pertinent 
to  the  findings  of  this  investigation. 

In  averaging  the  grades  of  the  individual,  it  was  found 
that  sufficiently  accurate  results  were  obtained  by  carrying 
the  computation  to  one  decimal  place  only.  So  in  listing 
the  various  grades  for  comparative  purposes,  this  was  the 
method  of  distribution:  10.0,  9.9,  9.8,  9.7,  and  so  on.  For 
the  Minneapolis  schools  studied,  the  range  of  averages 
attained  by  any  one  pupil  in  all  his  subjects  ranged  from 
10.0,  the  highest,  made  by  two  girls,  out  of  a  total  of  2076 
pupils  (boys  and  girls)  studied,  down  to  0.4,  made  by  three 
boys  out  of  the  2076  pupils.  Within  this  range  of  97  units, 
there  were  only  four  measures  which  had  no  cases  to  be  listed. 
It  is  impracticable  to  show  the  distribution  for  the  entire  97, 
so  a  condensed  table  of  distribution  and  accompanying 
curve  is  here  given  in  Table  xiv  and  Figure  5.  In  St.  Paul, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  409  cases  listed  gave  a  range  of  from 
9.3  down  to  6.7.  It  will  thus  be  noted  that  there  was  a 
much  less  discriminating  series  of  grades  collected  in  the 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


45 


latter  city  than  the  former.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  more  general  tendency  to  retardation  in  the  schools 
studied  in  St.  Paul  than  in  Minneapolis,  this  is  a  surprising 
record.  The  distribution  of  St.  Paul  grades  is  shown  in 
Table  xv  and  in  Figure  6. 


TABLE  XIV 


distribution  of  average  marks  made  by  2,076  pupils  in  grades 
6b  to  8.a.,  inclusive,  in  10  minneapolis  schools,  in  all  studies 

(subjects) 


Average  Mark 

Boys 

Girls 

Total  Cases 

9.6-10.0 

0 

16 

16 

9.1-  9.5 

7 

44 

51 

8.6-  9.0 

22 

54 

76 

8.1-  8.5 

43 

91 

134 

7.6-  8.0 

57 

120 

177 

7.1-  7.5 

61 

95 

156 

6.6-  7.0 

96 

147 

243 

6.1-  6.5 

99 

116 

215 

5.6-  6.0 

110 

104 

214 

5.1-  5.5 

107 

92 

199 

4.6-  5.0 

101 

52 

153 

4.1-  4.5 

101 

45 

146 

3.6-  4.0 

68 

28 

96 

3.1-  3.5 

55 

24 

79 

2.6-  3.0 

32 

15 

47 

2.1-  2.5 

25 

10 

35 

1.6-  2.0 

14 

5 

19 

1.1-  1.5 

10 

0 

10 

0.6-  1.0 

4 

2 

6 

0.4-  0.5 

4 

0 

4 

Total 

1,016 

1,060 

2,076 

46 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


Figure  5 
Distribution  of  school  marks,  10  schools  of  Minneapolis,  2076  cases 
Cases : 


250 

240 

230 

220 

210 

200 

190 

180 

170 

160 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Range: 


m 


0.4  0.6  1.1  1.6  2.1  2.6  3.1  3.6  4.1  4.6  5.1  5.6  6.1  6.6  7.1  7.6  8.1  8.6  9.1  9.6 
to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to  to 
0.5  1.0  1.5  2.0  2.5  3.0  3.5  4.0  4.5  5.0  5.5  6.0  6.5  7.0  7.5  8.0  8.5  9.0  9.5  10.0 


The  medians  for  boys,  girls,  and  total  number  of  students 
in  all  grades,  and  the  medians  in  each  grade,  as  well  as  the 
percentile  marks,  are  shown  in  Tables  xvi  and  xvn.  The 
determination  of  these  percentiles  makes  it  possible^  to 
compare  each  school  and  grade  with  the  entire  group  studied, 
and  reveals  any  tendencies  on  the  part  of  any  school  or 
teacher  to  grade  too  far  above  or  below  the  general  tendency 
for  the  group.     Such  a  study  is  rarely  made  by  superinten- 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


47 


TABLE  XV 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  AVERAGE  MARKS  MADE  BY  409  PUPILS  IN  THREE 

ST.  PAUL  SCHOOLS 


Average  Mark 

— • 

Boys 

Girls 

Total  Cases 

9.1-9.3 

3 

6 

9 

8.6-9.0 

17 

60 

77 

8.1-8.5 

59 

88 

147 

7.6-8.0 

84 

61 

145 

7.1-7.5 

22 

5 

27 

6.7-7.0 

3 

1 

4 

Total 

188 

221 

409 

Figure  6 
Distribution  of  school  marks,  3  schools  of  St.  Paul,  409  cases 
Cases : 


13U 

140 

loU 

lzu  - 

110  - 

90  - 

80  - 

— 

ou  - 

50  - 

JU  - 
20 

10 

> 

", 

r 

0  . 

H 

1 

6.7  7.17.6  8.18.6  8.1 

to   to   to  to  to  to        Range 

7.0  7.5  8.0  8.5  9.0  9.3 


dents,  and  where  made  will  be  a  valuable  aid  in  evaluating 
the  work  of  individual   schools.     For   this  study,   it  was 


48 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


valuable  in  determining  the  basis  on  which  a  comparison  of 
marks  should  be  made; — whether  the  comparison  should  be 
made  on  a  basis  of  a  quartile  classification  of  the  pupils 
studied  with  reference  to  the  quartiles  of  the  entire  city 
as  a  whole,  by  grades,  or  to  a  comparison  of  their  quartile 


TABLE  XVI 


25  Percentile 

Median 

75  Percentile 

Grade 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

8-A 

7.0 

7.7 

7.4 

5.9 

6.8 

6.5 

4.7 

5.9 

5.2 

8-B 

6.2 

7.7 

7.2 

4.8 

6.4 

5.7 

3.7 

5.2 

4.4 

7-A 

6.7 

7.8 

7.5 

5.7 

6.7 

6.3 

4.5 

5.8 

5.0 

7-B 

6.6 

7.8 

7.4 

5.5 

6.9 

6.3 

4.4 

5.9 

5.1 

6-A 

6.5 

7.5 

7.0 

5.4 

6.2 

5.7 

4.4 

5.0 

4.7 

6-B 

7.0 

7.9 

7.6 

6.0 

6.9 

6.5 

4.4 

5.2 

4.9 

All  Grades 

6.7 

7.7 

7.4 

5.5 

6.7 

6.1 

4.7 

5.9 

5.2 

PERCENTILES  AND  MEDIANS  OF  MARKS  MADE  IN  TEN  SCHOOLS  OF  MINNEAPOLIS, 
AND  IN  EACH  GRADE  SEPARATELY,  FOR  BOTH  BOYS  AND  GIRLS 


TABLE  XVII 


Grade 

25  Percentile 

Median 

75  Percentile 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

8-A 
8-B 
7-A 
7-B 
6-A 
6-B 
All  Grades 

8.6 
8.2 
8.4 
8,3 
7.9 
8.0 
8.3 

8.6 
8.7 
8.8 
8.5 
8.6 
8.3 
8.6 

8.6 
8.5 
8.6 
8.4 
8.2 
8.2 
8.5 

8.2 
8.0 
8.1 
8.2 
7.7 
7.8 
8.0 

8.4 
8.3 
8.4 
8.2 
8.2 
8.0 
8.3 

8.3 
8.2 
8.3 
8.2 
8.0 
7.9 
8.1 

7.9 

7.7 
7.8 
7.9 
7.4 
7.6 
7.7 

8.2 
8.0 
8.1 
7.8 
8.0 
7.9 
8.0 

8.0 
7.9 

8.0 

7.8 
7.7 
7.7 
7.9 

PERCENTILES  AND  MEDIANS  OF  MARKS  MADE  IN  THREE  SCHOOLS  OF  ST.  PAUL,  AND 
IN  EACH  GRADE  OF  THE  THREE  SCHOOLS  BY  BOTH  BOYS  AND  GIRLS 


Nationality  and  School  Progress  49 

standing  in  the  grade  comprising  their  school  fellows  in  their 
own  school,  without  reference  to  the  total  number  of  groups. 
If  there  be  any  great  deviations  from  the  group  medians,  it 
is  evident  that  there  can  be  no  valid  comparisons  based  on 
the  group  medians — as  is  immediately  seen  on  comparing 
Tables  xvi  and  xvn,  p.  48,  which  give  St.  Paul  75  percentiles 
as  higher  than  Minneapolis  25  percentiles!  It  is  quite 
evident  that  the  pupils  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  can  not 
be  considered  as  being  on  an  equal  basis  as  regards  marks. 

Table  xvin  page  50  gives  the  situation  in  Minneapolis, 
in  the  ten  schools  under  consideration.  It  is  an  interesting 
situation,  from  the  administrative  standpoint.  Schools 
deviating  so  widely  from  the  median  as  No.  1,  2,  8,  9, 
evidently  need  some  attention.  It  may  be  that  there  is 
quite  a  satisfactory  explanation  for  the  conditions  indicated, 
but  the  principals  of  these  schools  are  at  least  put  on  the 
defensive.  It  is  quite  certain  that  comparisons,  based  on 
such  figures  as  we  have  here,  are  indispensable  to  the  super- 
intendent and  are  easily  compiled  in  most  cases,  yet  are 
rarely  made  an  instrument  of  supervision.  For  the  purpose 
of  the  present  investigation  the  table  is  equally  important. 
It  is  conclusive  in  demonstrating  that  the  medians  for 
the  entire  group  can  not  be  used  for  a  basis  of  our  comparison, 
as  the  standard  of  school  No.  1  is  so  far  removed  from  that 
of  school  No.  9  that  they  might  as  well  be  located  a  thousand 
miles  apart  as  within  the  limits  of  the  same  city.  Altho  the 
table  does  not  show  this,  it  is  the  fact  that  the  highest 
ranking  pupil  in  every  grade  of  school  No.  9,  except  the  6 A 
and  6B  girls,  is  given  a  mark  lower  than  the  median  pupil 
in  the  corresponding  grade  of  school  No.  1.  In  the  light 
of  conditions  such  as  these,  for  this  study  the  pupils  in  each 
school  were  ranked  on  a  basis  of  their  standing  in  their  own 
class,  without  reference  to  the  medians  of  any  other  school, 
or  of  the  group.     The  marks  of  the  boys  and  the  girls  were 


50 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


kept  separate  in  each  grade.  Each  grade  in  each  school 
was,  then,  divided  into  quartiles  and  a  quartile  rank  given  to 
each  pupil  according  to  this  grouping.  In  this  way,  the 
pupil  was  ranked  according  to  his  own  environment,  and 
his  relative  position  to  his  school  mates  was  a  much  more 
natural  one,  than  if  he  were  compared  with  pupils  in  schools 
far  removed  from  his  own,  either  geographically  or  admin- 
istratively.    The  only  objection  to  this  arrangement  came 


TABLE  XVIII 

8-A 

8-B 

7-A 

7-B 

6-A 

6-B 

All 

School 

, — ■ — 

, — " — 

— '■ — 

s. 

. — « — 

Total 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

B.     G. 

No.  1 

7.4  8.2 

7.4  8.6 

6.5  8.2 

6.5  8.4 

6.6  6.8 

7.0  7.7 

6.8  8.0 

7.4 

2 

7.8-6.8 

5.5  8.4 

6.5  6.6 

6.4  7.0 

6.7  7.8 

7.8  7.3 

6.8  7.3 

7.1 

*3-10 

6.0  6.7 

4.7  6.7 

6.6  7.6 

6.3  7.0 

6.2  6.5 

6.3  7.7 

6.0  7.0 

6.5 

4 

5.2  6.5 

5.7  6.1 

5.9  6.7 

6.4  6.7 

5.6  6.7 

7.0  7.7 

6.0  6.7 

6.4 

5 

6.2  6.7 

5.1  6.4 

5.2  6.4 

4.8  6.5 

5.5  7.6 

7.5  6.4 

5.7  6.7 

6.2 

6 

5.4  7.2 

4.3  6.2 

5.6  7.0 

4.7  6.3 

4.7  7.5 

3.7  7.2 

4.7  6.9 

5.8 

7 

5.7  6.7 

5.4  6.7 

4.8  5.8 

4.7  5.3 

4.9  5.3 

5.2  5.3 

5.1  5.9 

5.5 

8 

5.2  6.4 

4.3  6.1 

4.5  5.5 

5.4  6.9 

5.0  3.5 

5.2  5.7 

4.9  5.7 

5.3 

9 

4.5  5.7 

3.0  4.5 

3.0  3.l|4.4  6.7 

3.7  5.3(4.8  5.2 

3.9  5.1 

4.5 

DISTRIBUTION    OF    MEDIAN    MARKS    FOR    TEN    MINNEAPOLIS    SCHOOLS,    SHOWING 

MEDIANS  FOR  BOYS  AND  FOR  GIRLS  OF  EACH  GRADE,  AND  FOR  EACH 

SCHOOL 


The  range  of  mec 

lians  for  all  grades  is 

from  4.5  to  7.4. 

for  all  boys,  is  3.9  to  6.8. 

for  all  girls,  is  5 

.1  to  8.0 

8-A 

boys       4.5  to  7.8 

girls      5.7  to  8.2 

8-B 

3.0  to  7.4 

4.5  to  8.6 

7-A 

3.0  to  6.6 

3.1  to  8.2 

7-B 

4.4  to  6.5 

5.3  to  8.4 

6-A 

3.7to6.7 

3.5  to  7.8 

6-B 

3.7  to  7.8 

5.2to7.7 

'Schools  3  and  10  are  combined  under  one  principal. 


Nationality  and  School  Progress  51 

in  the  case  of  school  No.  9,  which  was  predominantly 
Russian  Jewish  in  complexion,  so  that  there  was  not  as  much 
meaning  to  the  rankings  as  would  have  been  the  case  with 
a  higher  admixture  of  other  nationalities.  The  result 
was  rather  a  ranking  of  a  group  of  Russian  Jews  among 
themselves,  than  a  comparison  with  other  nations.  Of 
course,  this  would  not  materially  affect  the  final  figures  for 
other  nationalities,  for  it  would  simply  swell  the  number  of 
Russians  in  each  quartile,  without  perceptibly  affecting  the 
summary. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  understood  that  the  comparisons 
following  are  based  upon  the  quartile  distribution  of  the 
pupils  in  their  respective  schools  and  grades,  without  refer- 
ence to  a  comparison  of  buildings  or  medians  based  on  totals 
from  the  entire  group. 

The  same  groupings  of  nationalities  are  used  as  in  the 
retardates  and  accelerates,  but  the  number  of  cases  treated 
will  not  correspond,  in  most  groups  being  less.  The  reason 
is  that  there  were  a  number  of  pupils  who,  on  account  of 
having  just  moved  to  the  city,  or  having  just  changed 
schools,  had  not  had  marks  given  them  in  the  school  under 
question,  and  it  was  felt  that  the  marks  brought  from  the 
former  school  would  not  be  valuable  as  a  basis  for  com- 
parison with  the  present  classmates  of  the  child;  the  reason 
for  this  is  clear  from  the  discussion  of  range  of  marks  between 
different  schools  even  in  the  same  system.  In  a  few  cases 
it  was  possible  to  locate  some  pupils  for  marking  who  had  not 
given  their  ages,  or  whose  ages  had  to  be  thrown  out  from 
the  computation  of  retardates  on  account  of  inexplicable 
discrepancies.  For  these  reasons,  in  two  of  the  smaller 
groups,  the  number  for  whom  marks  are  given  was  one  or 
two  greater  than  in  the  preceding  tables.  Altogether, 
however,  only  2204  cases  could  be  listed,  as  against  2397 
retardates. 


52 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


TABLE  XIX 


Group 

Nation 

1st   Ql'AR- 
TILE 

2d  Quar- 

TILE 

3d  Quar- 

TILE 

4th  Quar- 

TILE 

Total 

Cases 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

/o 

1 
2 
3 

4 

5 
6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

United  States 

Great  Britain 

Germany.  .  .  . 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austria-Hun- 
gary  

Roumanian 
Jew 

Russian  Jew . 

Poland 

Finland 

Denmark. .  .  . 

Italy 

Totals .... 
Medians. . . 

94 
38 
31 
50 
98 

29 

2C 

75 
9 
7 
4 

5 

30.2 
26.4 
18.7 
25.0 
24.4 

26.1 

22.5 
24.5 
33.3 
14.0 
23.5 
26.3 

75 
41 
54 
46 
100 

30 

26 

78 

6 

16 

5 
3 

24.1 

28.5 
32.5 
23.0 
24.8 

27.0 

29.2 
25.5 
22.2 
32.0 
29.4 
15.8 

78 
34 
39 
60 
110 

28 

20 

78 

6 

15 

3 

5 

25.1 
23.6 

23.5 
30.0 
27.3 

25.2 

22.5 
25.5 
22.2 
30.0 
17.7 
26.3 

64 
31 
42 
44 
94 

24 

23 

75 

6 

12 

5 

6 

20.6 
21.5 
25.3 
22.0 
23.4 

21.7 

25.8 
24.5 
22.2 
24.0 
29.4 
31.6 

311 
144 
166 
200 
402 

111 

89 
306 
27 
50 
17 
19 

460 

24.8 

480 

26.2 

476 

25.1 

426 

23.7 

1,842 

DISTRIBUTION   OF   SCHOOL   MARKS   BY   QUARTILES    AMONG   NATIONALITY   GROUPS, 

FOLLOWING  THE  NATIONALITY  GROUPS  BASED  ON  BIRTHPLACE  OF 

GRANDPARENTS 

The  distribution  according  to  the  highest,  second,  third 
and  lowest  quartiles  of  school  marks  is  given  in  Table  xix. 
It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  these  rankings  are  those 
made  in  an  average  of  all  subjects  carried. 

By  way  of  analysis,  two  additional  tables  are  given  show- 
ing the  relation  of  the  groups  in  terms  of  the  highest  quartile, 
and  of  the  lowest  quartile,  as  was  done  for  retardates  and 
accelerates. 

Before  accepting  these  figures  as  final,  it  must  be  pointed 
out  that  the  most  serious  factor  leading  to  possible  error, 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


53 


TABLE  XX 


Group 

Nation 

Total 
Cases 

QUARTILE  I 

QUARTILE  IV 

Cases 

07 
/o 

Cases 

/c 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

United  States .  .  . 
Great  Britain.  .  . 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austro-Hungary. 
Roumanian  Jew . 
Russian  Jew .... 
Polish 

311 

144 

166 

200 

402 

111 

89 

306 

27 

50 

17 

19 

94 

38 

31 

50 

98 

29 

20 

75 

9 

7 

4 

5 

30.2 
26.4 
18.7 
25.0 
24.4 
26.1 
22.5 
24.5 
33.3 
14.0 
23.5 
26.3 

64 

31 

42 

44 

94 

24 

23 

75 

6 

12 

5 

6 

20.6 
21.5 
25.3 
22.0 
23.4 
21.7 
25.8 
24.5 
22  2 

10 
11 
12 

Finland 

Denmark 

Italy 

24.0 
29.4 
31  6 

Medians 

24.8 

23.7 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  SCHOOL  MARKS,  SHOWING  RELATION  TO  MEDIANS  IN  FIRST  AND 
FOURTH  QUARTILES 

aside  from  the  inequality  of  the  marking  system  already 
noted,  is  the  fact  that  the  nationalities  are  not  distributed 
equally  in  the  various  buildings.  Even  where  there  is  a 
reasonably  close  distribution  between  any  two  given  schools, 
there  is  not  the  same  uniformity  between  the  classes  within 
the  schools.  So  this  gives  rise  to  a  suspicion  that  the 
results  just  tabulated,  while  appearing  conclusive,  are 
really  masking  the  real  situation.  Thus,  it  has  already 
been  pointed  out  that  the  Grant  School  has  so  large  a 
percentage  of  Russian  Jews  enrolled,  that  the  comparisons 
are  not  between  the  Russians  and  the  other  nationalities, 
but  between  the  Russians  themselves,  and  hence  are  not 
significant.  If  this  same  situation,  while  apparently  not 
acute  in  other  buildings,  yet  exists  in  part,  it  may  be  that 
there  is  no  justification  for  evaluating  the  groups  on  the 


54 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


quartile  plan  just  adopted.     By  way  of  testing  the  situation, 
two  devices  were  adopted : 

a.  Typical  comparisons  were  worked  out  for  schools  in 
which  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  belonging  to  the  larger 

Figure  8  (above) 
Relative  standing  of  nationality  groups,  based  on  lowest  quartile  of  school 

marks 


20.< 

y< 

2 

.5 

21.7 

22.0 

24 

.5 

23.4 

25.8 

25.3 

24.0 

A 

1 

k 

4 

t 

5 

• 

Jl 

I 

: 

k 

JJ 

0 

■j 

1 

I 

J 

1 

S 

"* 

j 

^ 

• 

L 

*"! 

$ 

f 

J 

^ 
^ 

i 

k 

< 

H 

; 

5 

1 

t- 

' 

L 

i — 

-S 

1* 

■* 

i 

-u 

5 

1 

a 

0 

tj 

r 

\J 

■u_ 

-fc 

^ 

1 

; 

1 

j 

y- 

! 

^ 

£— 

ST 

P 

t 

-4i 

1 

i 

5 

I 

I) 

, 

w 

J 

p 

^p 

s 

c 

1 

>-s 

S 

- 

5* 

T- 

-4- 

c 

I> 

_i 

2 

5» 

/> 

, 

te 

£ 

i 

- 

— 

4. 

j 

> 

5s 

=i 

> 

B 

J 

r* 

b 

ta 

s 

\M 

^ 

I 

0 

Pp 

r 

T 

30.2%  26.4   26.1    25.0    24.5    24.4    22.5    18.7    14.0 

Figure  7  (below) 
Relative  standing  of  nationality  groups,  based  on  highest  quartile  of  school 

marks 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


55 


groups  was  sufficient  to  give  comparisons  between  buildings. 
Such  groups  appearing  most  widely  distributed  were  the 
American,  Norwegian,  and  Swedish.  In  seven  schools,  it 
was  possible  to  draw  comparisons  between  the  American 
and  Swedish  groups,  and  the  conclusions  are  shown  in 
Table  xxi.  It  will  be  seen  in  this  table  that  the  higher 
standing  of  the  American  group  shown  in  the  combined 
table  is  borne  out  by  the  results  of  five  of  the  seven  schools, 
while  in  two,  there  is  a  slight  superiority  of  the  Swedish,  so 
far  as  the  highest  quartile  is  concerned;  in  case  of  the  lowest 
quartile,  the  American  group  excels  in  the  same  number 
as  in  the  first.  Thus  the  general  superiority  of  the  American 
group  would  be  substantiated  in  so  far  as  the  Swedish  group 
is  concerned,  based  on  the  quartiles. 


TABLE  XXI 


COMPARATIVE   PERCENTAGES    OF   GROUP  1   (AMERICAN*)   AND    GROUP   5   (SWEDISH) 

PUPILS  IN  EACH  SCHOLARSHIP  QUARTILE  IN  THE  SEVEN  SCHOOLS  IN 

WHICH  EACH  GROUP  IS  REPRESENTED  BY  15  OR  MORE  CASES 


School 

Group 

Xo. 
Cases 

Quartiles 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

Adams 

1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
5 

16 
64 
73 
36 
104 
19 
15 
67 
26 
25 
29 
58 

25.0 
29.7 
32.9 
30.6 
30.9 
31.6 
26.7 
16.4 
42.3 
28.0 
34.5 
13.8 

31.3 
21.9 
20.6 
19.4 
19.1 
15.8 
40.0 
34.3 
26.9 
24.0 
24.2 
25.9 

12.5 
28.1 
28.7 
13.9 
27.6 
31.5 
13.3 
26.9 
15.4 
28.0 
20.7 
29  3 

31.2 

Bryant 

Calhoun. 

Clay- Jackson .  .  . 

Motley 

Prescott 

20.3 
17.8 
36.1 
22.4 
21.1 
20.0 
22.4 
15.4 
20.0 
20.6 
31.0 

56 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


Table  xxn  shows  a  similar  comparison  for  the  Norwegian 
and  Swedish  groups.  For  these  groups  it  was  possible 
to  make  adequate  comparisons  in  only  six  schools.  In 
three  of  these,  the  Swedes  have  the  advantage,  and  in  the 
other  three,  the  Norwegians.  The  percentages  are  widely 
variant  in  the  different  schools,  and  when  it  is  attempted 
to  make  an  evaluation  between  the  schools,  it  is  found  that 
there  is  a  slight  tendency  in  favor  of  the  Norwegians,  but  so 
slight  that  the  percentage  may  be  disregarded,  and  the  same 
conclusion  drawn  as  in  Table  xx,  namely,  that  there  is 
practically  no  difference  between  the  two  groups.  Thus 
again  the  data  of  Table  xx  seemed  to  be  borne  out  by  the 
second  test.  It  was  impossible  to  work  out  similar  tables 
for  other  nationalities,  so  a  further  method  was  employed; — 
b.  In  each  school  giving  enough  members  of  the  groups 
already  considered,  as  well  as  the  Russian  Jewish  group,  the 

TABLE  XXII 

COMPARATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  GROUP  4  (NORWEGIAN)  AND  GROUP  5  (SWEDISH) 

PUPILS  IN  EACH  SCHOLARSHIP  QUARTILE  IN  THE  SIX  SCHOOLS  IN  WHICH 

EACH  SCHOOL  IS  REPRESENTED  BY  14  OR  MORE  CASES 


Group 

No. 
Cases 

Quartiles 

School 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

Adams 

4 

5 
4 
5 
4 
5 
4 
5 
4 
5 

36 
64 
14 
19 
46 
67 
15 
33 
31 
62 

16.7 
29.7 
21.4 
31.6 
32.6 
16.4 
33.3 
24.3 
12.9 
29.0 

30.6 
21.9 
14.3 
15.8 
28.2 
34.3 
20.0 
21.2 
25.8 
24.2 

25.0 
28.1 
35.7 
31.5 
21.8 
26.9 
26.7 
27.3 
25.8 
29.0 

27.7 

Calhoun 

Clay- Jackson  .  .  . 

Harrison 

Holland 

20.3 

28.6 
21.1 
17.4 
22.4 
20.0 
27.2 
35.5 
17.8 

Nationality  and  School  Progress 


57 


TABLE  XXIII 
TABLE    SHOWING    THE    NUMBER    AND    PERCENTAGES    OF    VARIOUS    NATIONALITY 


GROUPS  DOING  AS  WELL  OR  BETTER  THAN  THE  MEDIAN- 
CHILD  IN  CERTAIN  SCHOOLS 

AMERICAN 

Nationality  Groups 

School 

American 

Swedish 

Norwegian 

Russian  Jew 

Cases 

Med. 

Cases 

No. 

% 

Cases 

No. 

% 

Cases 

No. 

% 

Adams 

Bryant 

Calhoun. .  .  . 
Clay- 
Jackson  .... 
Harrison.  .  . 

Motley 

Prescott. .  .  . 
Siblev 

15 
71 
97 

15 
13 
28 
29 
1  3 

5.3 
7.2 
5.5 

6.7 
6.4 
7.5 
6.6 
8  1 

63 
35 
19 

66 
33 
25 
57 

90 

35 

17 

8 

28 
19 
6 
20 
1? 

.55 
.49 
.42 

.42 
.57 
.24 
.35 
.60 

45 

35 
13 
14 

48 
15 
12 
11 

16 
8 
5 

25 

8 
4 
3 

.45 
.62 
.36 

.52 
.53 
.33 
.27 

12 

5 

.42 

40 

17 

.42 

44 

.42 

Average  without  Sibley 

A3 

.56 

4Q 

average  mark  of  all  the  American  group  enrolled  in  this 
school  was  taken.  Then  it  was  determined  what  percentage 
of  the  other  nationality  groups  named  made  as  high  marks 
as  the  median  American  child  in  the  school  under  con- 
sideration. Such  a  comparison  was  possible  in  nine  schools 
for  the  Swedes,  in  eight  for  the  Norwegians,  and  in  two 
for  the  Russian  Jews.  Table  xxm  gives  the  results  in  full. 
It  will  be  seen  when  an  average  of  the  percentages  in  the 
schools  indicated  is  taken,  that  45%  of  the  Swedes  in  the 
nine  schools  do  as  well  or  better  than  the  median  child  of 
the  American  group.  Forty-four  percent  of  the  Norwegians 
in  the  eight  schools  do  as  well  or  better  than  the  Americans. 
If  we  drop  out  the  one  school  in  which  the  Swedes  are 
represented,  but  the  Norwegians  not,  we  find  the  average 


58  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

for  the  Swedes  in  the  eight  schools  is  cut  to  43%,  thus 
falling  slightly  below  the  Norwegians  for  the  schools  in 
which  both  are  represented,  and  again  substantiating  the 
result  shown  in  Table  xx,  so  far  as  the  relative  standing  of 
the  two  nationalities  is  concerned.  In  the  two  schools  in 
which  comparisons  are  possible  with  the  Russian  Jews,  it 
is  found  that  an  average  of  42%  of  this  group  do  as  well  or 
better  than  the  median  American  child  in  the  two  schools. 
In  the  same  two  schools,  the  median  Swedish  child  does  as 
well  or  better  than  the  median  American  in  56%  of  the  cases, 
and  the  median  Norwegian  in  49%  of  the  cases.  This 
relative  standing  of  the  related  Scandinavian  groups  as 
compared  with  the  Russian  Jewish  group  agrees  with  the 
relative  standings  of  the  Scandinavian  and  Jewish  groups  as 
shown  in  Table  xx.  So  the  result  of  this  method  of  evaluation 
indicates  that  the  results  shown  in  Table  xx  are  accurate. 

Thus,  even  without  further  corroborative  evidence  which 
will  be  brought  out  in  Chapter  VI,  the  conclusion  may  be 
fairly  drawn  that  the  American  child  of  the  third  generation 
will  make  better  school  marks  than  the  foreigner  of  the 
second  or  third  generation.  Further  comment  is  reserved 
until  the  final  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 

NATIONALITY  AND  OBJECTIVE 
MENTAL  TESTS 

Although  the  conclusions  drawn  in  the  previous  chapter 
seem  to  be  clear-cut  and  definite,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
in  estimating  the  school  marks,  there  was  no  common 
standard  by  which  to  test  the  pupils,  and  the  school  marks, 
even  had  they  all  been  given  in  the  same  school,  would  have 
shown  the  variability  which  always  results  from  the  personal 
equation.  Therefore  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  as 
many  as  possible  of  the  children  should  be  given  objective 
tests  which  would  give  a  common  basis  for  estimating  their 
relative  abilities.  If  these  objective  tests  tended  to  cor- 
roborate the  findings  of  Chapter  V,  there  would  be  no  doubt 
about  the  conclusion  that  national  differences  exist.  Fur- 
ther, if  the  tests  could  be  selected  on  a  basis  of  requiring 
different  abilities  and  powers  of  mind,  they  would  go  far 
toward  showing  why  the  differences  already  noted  exist,  and 
perhaps  point  out  even  more  profound  elements  in  the 
situation. 

Accordingly,  a  group  of  tests  was  collected,  which  could 
be  given  as  a  sort  of  "omnibus"  test  to  the  children  as  a  part 
of  their  regular  school  program  under  as  nearly  natural 
conditions  as  could  be  arranged.  The  tests  finally  chosen 
were  as  follows: 

I.  Opposites  test.  An  opposites  test  of  the  familiar  form 
was  used,  this  one  being  devised  by  Dr.  M.  J.  Van  Wagenen, 
of  the  University  of  Minnesota.  The  opposites  of  fifty 
words  were  required,  with  a  time  allowance  of  four  minutes. 

59 


60  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

II.  Language  tests.  Two  of  the  well  known  Trabue 
Language  Scales  were  chosen,  Scale  B,  with  a  time  allowance 
of  five  minutes,  and  Scale  C,  seven  minutes.  For  those 
not  familiar  with  these  scales,  it  should  be  noted  that  they 
test  the  ability  of  the  subject  in  filling  out  incomplete 
sentences  by  the  addition  of  such  missing  words  as  are 
needed  to  make  sense. 

III.  Vocabulary  tests.  Two  tests  were  given  to  test 
vocabulary,  those  chosen  being  tests  devised  by  Sister 
Jeanne-Marie,  of  the  College  of  St.  Catherine,  St.  Paul. 
Test  III-A  and  Test  I-C  were  employed.  These  were  made 
up  of  56  and  58  words  respectively,  chosen  principally  from 
the  school  histories  used  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades, 
and  were  words  which  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  come 
well  within  the  range  of  the  pupil's  comprehension.  Four 
possible  choices  were  presented  to  the  pupil  for  each  word, 
and  he  was  to  underline  the  one  of  the  four  possible  defini- 
tions which  he  thought  came  nearest  to  being  correct.  A 
time  limit  of  seven  minutes  was  fixed  for  each  of  these  tests. 

IV.  Substitution  or  learning  tests.  Two  of  these  tests 
were  given,  the  form  used  being  the  type  worked  out  by 
Dr.  Van  Wagenen,  in  which  the  subject  is  given  a  key 
showing  a  group  of  letters,  each  letter  accompanied  by  a 
certain  number.  A  list  of  mixed  letters  corresponding  to 
those  in  the  key  is  then  given,  and  the  subject  required  to 
write  under  each  letter  the  number  which  accompanies  that 
letter  in  the  key.  He  is  allowed  three  minutes  for  each  test.  ■ 
He  thus  tests  his  speed  in  learning  a  new  situation,  accuracy 
in  its  application,  and  speed  in  the  application. 

V.  Memory  span  tests.  One  of  these  tests  was  given, 
in  which  the  subject  wrote  down  a  series  of  numbers,  writing 
each  as  soon  as  it  was  called,  as  a  test  of  immediate  retention 
of  digits.  A  series  of  five  four-digit  numbers  was  first  given, 
then  a  series  of  five  five-digit,  than  a  series  of  five  six-digit 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests  61 

numbers,  then  seven,  eight  and  nine  digit  numbers.  Owing 
to  the  number  of  each  type  given,  only  one  test  of  this  sort 
was  used. 

VI.  Number  completion  tests.  Two  tests  of  this  sort 
were  used,  being  tests  devised  in  1918  by  Miss  Mary  Carufel, 
a  graduate  student  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  as  a 
basis  for  her  Master's  thesis.  These  tests  each  consisted 
of  a  series  of  twenty-five  groups  of  numbers.  Each  group 
of  numbers  was  worked  out  according  to  a  principle  by 
which  each  number  was  gotten  from  the  preceding  accord- 
ing to  a  definite  method.  The  problem  of  the  subject  was 
to  discover  this  principle  for  each  group  and  indicate  his 
success  by  writing  down  the  number  next  in  order  for 
each  group  or  line.  Three  and  one-half  minutes  were 
allowed  for  each  of  these  tests. 

VII.  Geometrical  forms.  Two  tests  were  given  to 
test  the  ability  of  the  pupils  in  estimating  the  component 
parts  of  a  miscellaneous  group  of  geometrical  figures.  The 
tests  used  were  an  ingenious  adaptation  of  the  form  board 
tests  used  by  Binet  and  his  followers,  and  were  developed 
by  Mr.  Oscar  J.  Johnson,  a  fellow  in  the  College  of  Educa- 
tion of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  who  saw  service 
during  the  war  in  the  psychological  testing  corps  of  the 
Army.  The  subject  was  shown  a  square,  triangle,  or 
other  figure,  and  was  also  shown  accompanying  it,  two  or 
more  figures,  which  would  exactly  fit  into  the  area  of  the 
larger  figure.  He  was  to  draw  lines  in  the  larger  figure 
to  show  how  the  smaller  figures  would  fit  into  the  larger. 
Two  tests  of  this  type  were  given,  each  consisting  of  seven- 
teen forms.  Five  minutes  were  allowed  for  the  solution 
of    each. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  time  allowance  in  each  of  these 
tests  save  the  Trabue,  was  made  shorter  than  that  necessary 
for  any  but  the  most  exceptional  child  to  complete  the  test. 


62  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

In  this  way  there  was  an  excellent  opportunity  to  rank 
each  child  according  to  his  ability  in  both  speed  and  quality 
of  work.  Most  of  the  tests  have  been  carefully  standard- 
ized, and  the  relation  existing  between  the  pairs  of  similar 
tests  or  scales  is  as  follows : 

(Pearson  coefficient)     Trabue  B  &  C,  .60— .70 

Number  completion,     .81  ±3 
Substitutions,  .60-  .70 

Vocabularies,  .72  ±3 

While  in  general  it  may  be  assumed  that  tests  involving 
language  abilities  are  better  measures  of  intelligence  than 
non-language  tests,  yet  if  tests  involving  abilities  which 
are  not  dependent  upon  language  can  be  found  which  show 
a  reasonable  correlation  with  intelligence  as  shown  in  school 
marks,  one  may  conclude  that  such  tests  will  be  safe  to 
use  as  a  partial  basis  of  comparison  with  language  tests. 
The  four  tests  chosen  for  non-language  tests  were  selected 
on  the  basis  of  testing  different  sorts  of  abilities,  while 
at  the  same  time  showing  a  positive  correlation  with  general 
intelligence  as  evidenced  by  school  marks.  Thus,  in  a 
group  of  178  sixth  grade  pupils  in  the  Minneapolis  public 
schools,  the  substitution  test  gave  a  correlation  of  .205 
with  school  marks  in  arithmetic,  English,  history  and 
geography. .  In  the  same  group,  the  geometrical  forms 
test  gave  a  correlation  of  .232  with  the  same  marks.  With 
a  group  of  127  ninth  grade  pupils,  in  the  same  system,  the 
number  completion  tests  gave  a  correlation  of  .246  with 
school  marks.  This  positive  correlation  with  school  marks 
was  felt  to  be  a  definite  indication  that  the  four  tests  selected 
will  give  at  least  as  high  a  degree  of  correlation  as  any  set 
of  four  short  non-language  tests  might  be  expected  to 
show;  and  while  probably  the  Trabue,  the  opposites  and 
the  vocabulary  tests  would  show  higher  correlations  with 
school  marks,  they  might  at  the  same  time  be  expected 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests  63 

to  show  greater  degrees  of  overlapping.  In  view  of  these 
relationships,  the  fact  that  the  results  of  the  two  types  of 
tests  show  marked  differences  would  give  rise  to  a  feeling 
that  the  language  element  might  conceivably  be  a  factor 
in  explaining  the  differences  apparently  due  to  nature, 
altho  it  is  impossible  to  fix  any  definite  degree  to  which 
this  factor  enters,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  state  that  it  is 
the  only  factor,  or  even,  perhaps,  the  most  important  one. 

The  time  required  to  give  the  entire  group  of  tests  was 
found  to  be  one  and  one-half  hours.  In  order  that  there 
might  be  as  much  variety  as  possible,  to  lessen  the  strain 
of  the  test  and  lighten  the  fatigue  element,  the  tests  were 
arranged  in  an  order  so  that  the  language  and  non-language 
tests  would  alternate.  First  was  given  the  Opposites  Test; 
second,  the  Substitution  Tests;  third,  the  Trabue  Scales; 
fourth,  the  Memory  Span;  fifth,  the  Vocabulary  III-A; 
sixth,  the  Number  Completions;  seventh,  the  Vocabulary 
I-C;  eighth,  the  Geometrical  Forms  Tests. 

The  writer  gave  a  large  number  of  the  tests  personally; 
but  he  found  it  necessary  to  use  assistants,  three  in  number, 
who  were  recommended  by  the  Department  of  Educational 
Psychology  and  proved  to  be  exceptionally  capable;  in 
order  to  secure  absolute  uniformity  in  the  giving  of  the 
tests,  each  assistant  was  furnished  with  complete  directions 
for  the  conduct  of  the  entire  group  test;  these  instructions 
were  very  explicit,  and  covered  every  point  which  could 
arise  in  the  course  of  the  test,  giving  the  exact  words  to  be 
used  by  the  examiner.  As  a  result  of  this  careful  attention 
to  minutiae,  remarkable  uniformity  of  procedure  marked 
the  giving  of  the  tests. 

Since  the  original  plan  of  the  investigation  did  not  con- 
template the  giving  of  objective  tests,  the  year  1917-18 
had  closed  before  they  could  be  given.  As  is  well  known, 
the  fall  term  of  1918-19  was  almost  completely  lost  in  the 


64  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

public  schools  on  account  of  the  influenza  epidemic,  and  so 
the  tests  were  not  finally  given  until  just  a  year  after  the 
original  question  blanks  were  distributed — that  is,  in  March 
and  the  early  part  of  April,  1919.  As  the  classes  had  been 
promoted  one  year,  the  tests  could  not  be  given  to  the 
eighth  graders  of  1918,  as  they  could  not  be  segregated  in 
the  high  schools  for  the  purpose.  So  the  tests  were  given 
to  the  eighth  and  seventh  grades  of  1919,  representing  the 
seventh  and  sixth  grades  of  1918,  in  those  schools  which 
seemed  to  have  the  best  representation  of  the  nationalities 
available  for  the  purpose.  Those  decided  upon  were  the 
Adams,  Bryant,  Calhoun,  Harrison,  Jackson,  Grant,  Motley, 
and  Prescott,  all  of  Minneapolis.  The  Clay  was  not  visited 
because  its  sixth  graders  of  1918  were  all  enrolled  in  the 
Jackson,  of  which  it  is  a  "feeder."  The  Holland  was  not 
used  because  there  were  no  elements  in  its  constituency 
which  would  add  to  the  results  obtained  in  the  other  schools, 
and  the  same  holds  true  of  the  St.  Paul  schools.  In  the 
eight  schools  named,  tests  were  given  to  about  1600  pupils 
in  forty-six  rooms.  Those  tests  were  then  eliminated  which 
were  written  by  pupils  who  had  joined  the  school  since  the 
previous  year,  or  whose  names  were  not  found  in  the  list 
'of  the  previous  year.  The  final  tally  showed,  of  the  most 
distinctive  groups,  the  following  totals: 


Group 

1, 

Americans, 

139 

Group 

3, 

Germans, 

37 

Group 

4, 

Norwegians, 

78 

Group 

5, 

Swedes, 

159 

Group 

6, 

Austrians, 

36 

Group 

7, 

Roum.  Jews, 

58 

Group 

8, 

Russian  Jews, 

111 

Group 

10, 

Finns, 

28 

Total,  646 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests 


65 


Of  these,  Groups  3,  6,  and  10  contained  too  few  cases  to 
be  of  value,  and  were  dropped  from  consideration.  This 
left  five  important  groups  for  final  evaluation,  forming  really 
three  main  divisions,  namely,  Americans  of  at  least  the 
third  generation  in  this  country,  Scandinavians,  involving 
both  Norwegians  and  Swedes,  and  Jews,  made  up  of  the 
two  related  groups,  Roumanians  and  Russians.  A  study 
was  then  made  of  the  relative  numbers  taken  from  the  two 
grades  tested,  for  a  predominance  of  eighth  graders  in  the 
ranks  of  any  one  nationality  would  naturally  be  expected 
to  give  it  an  advantage  in  the  final  scoring  over  the  others. 
The  study  showed  the  following  proportions : 


Group 

Cases 

Grades 

Eighth 

Seventh 

%  in  8th 

1        American 

139 
78 

159 
58 

111 

85 
43 
91 
27 
44 

54 
35 
68 
31 
67 

.61 

4  Norwegian 

5  Swedish 

.55 
.57 

7  Roumanian  Jew . .  . 

8  Russian  Jews 

.47 
.40 

It  was  at  once  apparent  that  the  American  group  contained 
too  many  eighth  graders,  and  the  Jewish  groups  too  many 
seventh  graders,  to  make  comparisons  at  all  valid.  Accord- 
ingly, ten  American  eighth  graders,  thirty  Russian  Jewish 
seventh  graders  and  three  Roumanian  Jewish  seventh 
graders  were  dropped  from  the  number.  The  Americans 
were  picked  at  random,  from  each  of  the  schools  contribut- 
ing, proportionate  to  the  number  represented  in  each  school. 
The  Jewish  cases  dropped  were  a  group  in  which,  through 
some  oversight,  one  of  the  substitution  tests  was  not  given, 
and  so  in  any  case,  the  value  of  the  remaining  tests  would 


66 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


have  been  somewhat  vitiated  on  that  account.     This  gave 
the  following  adjustment: 


Group 

Cases 

Grades 

Eighth 

Seventh 

%  in  8th 

1       American 

129 

78 

159 

55 

81 

75 
43 
91 
27 
44 

54 
35 
68 

28 
37 

.58 

4  Norwegian 

5  Swedish 

.55 
.57 

7  Roumanian  Jew .  . . 

8  Russian  Jews 

.50- 
.54 

This  gave  a  reasonably  close  agreement,  and  represented 
the  best  approximation  which  could  be  made  without 
dropping  so  many  cases  as  to  cut  the  number  in  each  group 
too  small  to  be  of  value.  It  should  be  noted  at  this  point 
that  the  conditions  under  which  the  tests  were  given  were 
made  as  nearly  normal  as  possible.  The  principals  of  the 
various  buildings  showed  themselves  more  than  anxious 
to  co-operate  in  the  most  effective  manner.  Therefore  it 
was  possible  to  give  the  tests  in  the  regular  school  period 
substituting  them  for  the  regular  exercises  of  the  day.  This 
fact  was  found  to  produce  a  favorable  atmosphere  in  the 
room,  as  a  welcome  interruption  of  the  ordinary  routine. 
Nearly  all  the  tests  were  given  at  the  opening  of  the  after- 
noon session,  so  that  the  pupils  did  not  become  restless  on 
account  of  previous  school  duties,  nor  were  they  fearful 
lest  they  be  kept  beyond  the  ordinary  closing  bell.  In  five 
cases,  the  tests  were  given  at  the  opening  of  the  morning 
session.  As  it  developed  that  the  schools  in  which  these 
tests  were  given  otherwise  scored  comparatively  low,  any 
fancied  advantage  from  the  morning  hour  did  not  appear 
in  the  final  scores.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  allow 
for  differences  in  weather  conditions.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
most  of  the  days  were  cloudy,  gray  days;  there  was,  however, 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests  67 

but  little  difference  in  the  temperature  of  the  out  of  doors 
and  indoors  as  the  temperature  was  adjusted  so  that  the 
rooms  stood  very  close  to  70°.  The  tendency  found  in 
most  rooms  was  to  keep  them  too  warm,  so  the  windows 
were  adjusted  to  secure  the  proper  result.  Although  the 
tests  took  an  hour  and  a  half  for  completion,  there  was  very 
little  evidence  of  fatigue.  In  a  few  cases  where  restlessness 
developed  to  a  marked  degree,  as  happened  in  some  five  of 
the  seventh  grades,  a  short  calisthenic  drill  was  allowed  at 
the  close  of  the  sixth  test.  This  was  not  found  necessary, 
in  most  cases,  and  in  any  case  did  not  occupy  over  three 
minutes.  Neither  pupils  nor  teachers  were  given  advance 
notice  of  the  nature  or  character  of  the  tests,  so  that  there 
was  no  opportunity  for  "coaching,"  even  had  there  been  a 
disposition  for  this.  The  fact  that  it  was  made  clear  to  all 
principals  that  nothing  in  the  way  of  a  school  survey,  or 
of  a  public  comparison  of  schools,  was  in  progress,  also 
removed  any  motive  for  such  coaching.  In  two  schools 
located  in  the  better  residence  districts,  the  pupils  had  seen 
some  of  the  sample  psychological  tests  published  in  certain 
popular  magazines  and  manifested  their  interest  in  the  tests 
given,  on  account  of  a  fancied  familiarity  with  the  tests  as 
illustrated  in  these  publications.  Such  frank  expressions 
as  these  showed  pretty  definitely  that  there  had  been 
nothing  attempted  in  the  way  of  coaching  on  the  part  of 
teachers. 

Result  of  the  Tests 

The  scoring  of  the  papers  was  done  by  a  committee  of 
four  persons.  Each  person  was  assigned  a  certain  test  or 
tests,  and  scored  all  papers  in  this  test.  Thus  there  was 
definite  uniformity  in  scoring,  especially  as  the  mechanical 
means  of  scoring  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  keys  furn- 
ished for  each  test  practically  eliminated  the  subjective 
element. 


68 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


The  scores  in  each  test  were  carefully  tabulated,  and  then 
were  weighted  for  comparative  purposes.  The  weights 
were  taken  arbitrarily,  to  give  comparable  figures  in  each 
case.  The  raw  unweighted  scores  in  the  Opposites  test 
were  used  unweighted,  as  the  scores  ran  from  0  to  a  possible 
100.  The  two  Trabues  were  added  together,  and  then 
multiplied  by  four,  giving  a  range  of  0  to  156.  The  vocabu- 
laries were  added  together,  and  the  raw  scores  used  as 
resulting,  giving  a  range  from  0  to  182.  These  three  lan- 
guage tests  were  then  combined,  the  weighted  scores  as 
described  being  added  together,  and  the  resultant  scores 
tabulated.     The   two   substitution   tests  were   added,   and 

TABLE  XXIV 

SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  GROSS  SCORES  MADE  BY  FIVE  NATIONAL  GROUPS  IN 

EIGHT  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  THREE  LANGUAGE  TESTS,  OPPOSITES,  TRABUE 

AND  VOCABULARY 


Nationality 

Score 

Amer- 

Norwe- 

Swedish 

Rouman- 

Russian 

ican 

gian 

ian  Jews 

Jews 

360-399 

3 

0 

1 

0 

0 

340-359     . 

9 

1 

5 

1 

2 

320-339 

10 

4 

3 

1 

3 

300-319 

14 

4 

6 

•  5 

6 

280-299 

19 

7 

14 

7 

7 

260-279 

23 

9 

17 

6 

13 

240-259 

18 

8 

26 

8 

11 

220-239 

15 

16 

24 

8 

20 

200-219 

9 

13 

29 

8 

4 

180-199 

4 

9 

9 

6 

5 

160-179 

2 

3 

10 

3 

7 

140-159 

3 

0 

8 

0 

1 

0-139 

0 

4 

7 

1 

2 

Totals 

129 
271.4 

78 
233.3 

159 
234.7 

54 
242.5 

81 

Medians 

242.5 

Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests 


69 


not  further  weighted.  The  Memory  Span  raw  scores 
were  multiplied  by  10.  The  two  Number  Completions  were 
added  and  multiplied  by  six.  The  two  Geometrical  Forms 
were  added  and  multiplied  by  ten.  These  four  weighted 
scores  were  added  and  tabulated  as  a  basis  for  estimating 
the  Non-Language  group  of  tests. 

Tables  xxiv  and  xxv  give  the  results  of  the  tests,  the 
measures  being  condensed  for  convenience  of  tabulation. 


table  xxv 

showing  gross  scores  made  by  five  national  groups  in  eight  schools  in 

the  four  non-language  tests,  substitutions,  memory  span, 

number  completions,  and  geometrical  forms 


Nationality 

Score 

Amer- 

Norwe- 

Swedish 

Rouman- 

Russian 

ican 

gian 

ian  Jews 

Jews 

950-1000 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

900-  949 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

850-  899 

1 

2 

2 

0 

1 

800-  849 

3 

3 

5 

1 

1 

750-  799 

7 

4 

8 

4 

3 

700-  749 

17 

8 

17 

4 

7 

650-  699 

15 

11 

11 

3 

19 

600-  649 

16 

12 

26 

9 

12 

550-  599 

24 

9 

19 

9 

6 

500-  549 

14 

6 

27 

4 

9 

450-  499 

9 

9 

14 

5 

8 

400-  449 

9 

8 

17 

8 

8 

350-  399 

9 

1 

3 

2 

3 

300-  349 

0 

2 

8 

3 

0 

200-  299 

1 

2 

2 

2 

4 

Totals 

129 
597.5 

78 
605.0 

159 
574.1 

54 
565.0 

81 

Medians 

607.5 

70 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


TABLE  XXVI 
SUMMARY  OF  RESULTS  OF  OBJECTIVE  TESTS  GIVEN  TO  FIVE  NATIONAL  GROUPS  IN 
EIGHT  SCHOOLS,  GIVING  MEDIANS,  P.  E.  AND  SIGMA  VALUES  AND  LIKELI- 
HOOD OF  INTERCHANGE  OF  MEDIANS 


Test 


Opposites 
Median.  .  . 

P.  E 

sigma 

rel.  coef . . . 

Trabues 
Median.  .  . 

P.  E 

sigma 

rel.  coef . . . 

Vocabularies 
Median .  .  . 

P.  E 

sigma 

rel.  coef. . . 

All  Language 
Median .  .  . 

P.  E 

sigma 

rel.  coef .  . . 

Substitutions 
Median .  .  . 

P.E 

sigma 

rel.  coef.  .  . 


Nationality 


Ameri- 
ican 


55.4 
9.9 

14.7 
1.0 


105.3 

10.9 

16.2 

1.1 


112.2 

18.8 

27.9 

2.0 


271.4 

32.0 

47.5 

3.4 


154.9 

22.4 

33.2 

2.4 


Norwe- 
gian 


46.8 
8.9 

13.3 
1.2 


96.4 

11.2 

16.6 

1.5 


98.0 

22.7 

33.6 

3.2 


233.3 

33.4 

49.5 

4.7 


156.7 

22.3 

33.1 

3.1 


Swedish 


44.9 

9.3 

13.8 


96.7 
12.0 

17.8 
1.2 


98.1 

21.4 

31.8 

2.1 


234.7 

35.9 

53.3 

3.5 


152.2 

22.2 

33.0 

2.2 


Rouman- 
ian Jews 


47.0 
9.0 

13.4 
1.5 


96.4 
11.6 

17.3 
1.9 


107.0 

20.5 

30.4 

3.4 


242.5 

32.0 

47.5 

5.4 


149.5 

31.6 

46.8 

5.3 


Russian 
Jews 


46.5 

10.1 

15.0 

1.4 


94.2 

10.9 

16.2 

1.5 


107.5 

19.1 

28.3 

2.6 


242 

34 

51 

4 


161 

29 

43 

4 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests 


71 


table  xxvi — continued 


N 

ATIONALITY 

Test 

Amer- 
ican 

Norwe- 
gian 

Swedish 

Rouman- 
ian Jews 

Russian 
Jews 

Memory  Span 

Median 

161.2 
30.7 
45.6 

3.3 

160.2 

58.1 

86.0 

6.3 

152.8 

39.2 

58.1 

4.2 

597.5 

82.3 

122.0 

8.9 

144.2 

27.3 
40.5 

3.8 

177.0 
51.5 

76.3 
7.2 

141.4 

42.3 

62.8 

5.9 

605.0 
98.0 

145.3 
13.7 

140.4 

27.8 

41.2 

2.7 

159.0 

52.5 

77.4 

5.0 

144.5 

37.0 

55.0 

3.6 

574.1 
.87.8 
132.6 

8.7 

163.3 

30.0 

44.5 

5.0 

171.0 
57.9 

85.8 
9.8 

107.5 

35.6 

52.8 

6.0 

565.0 
94.5 

140.2 
16.0 

160.7 

P.  E 

33.4 

signia 

49.6 

rel.  coef 

4.6 

No.  Completion 

Median 

165.5 

P.  E 

56.7 

84.1 

rel.  coef 

7.8 

Geom.  Forms 
Median 

105.5 

P.  E 

34.9 

sigma 

51.8 

4.8 

All  Non-Language 
Median 

607.5 

p.  E 

93.1 

138.0 

rel.  coef 

12.8 

Table  xxvi  gives  a  summary  of  the  results  of  all  the  tests, 
in  terms  of  medians,  and  in  this  are  also  included  the  P.  E. 
values,  the  sigma  values,  and  the  "coefficient  of  reliability" 
or  measure  of  reliability  of  the  medians.  Inspection  of  the 
language  tests  shows  a  marked  superiority  of  the  American 
group  over  the  other  two  related  groups  in  every  case.  The 
close  relationship  of  the  two  elements  of  the  Scandinavian 
group,  and  of  the  two  elements  of  the  Jewish  group,  is  also 


72  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

very  marked,  in  each  test.  In  the  Opposites  and  Trabue 
tests,  which  are  essentially  measures  of  the  general  language 
ability  of  the  child,  there  is  very  little  difference  between 
the  two  foreign  divisions;  but  in  the  Vocabularies,  which 
tested  ability  to  define  words  in  the  child's  reading  vocabu- 
lary, and  especially  his  school  reading  vocabulary,  the 
Jewish  group  is  definitely  better  than  the  Scandinavian. 
Accordingly  the  Jewish  group  shows  a  corresponding 
advantage  over  the  Scandinavian,  when  the  comparison  is 
made  of  all  the  language  tests  combined. 

Inspection  of  the  non-language  tests  reveals  a  different 
story.  Here  the  American  group  displays  no  marked 
superiority  over  the  related  groups,  save  in  one  instance. 
In  fact,  the  American  median  is  definitely  below  that  of  the 
other  groups  in  several  instances.  There  is  still  general 
agreement  between  the  component  parts  of  the  two  related 
groups,  but  not  in  so  marked  a  degree,  for  in  the  case  of  the 
Substitutions,  the  Russian  median  is  decidedly  higher  than 
the  Roumanian,  and  in  the  Number  Completion,  the  Nor- 
wegians quite  surpass  the  Swedes.  This  latter  case  was 
explained  by  a  definitely  heavy  grouping  of  the  measures 
around  the  zero  mark.  This  resulted  from  the  fact  that 
the  instructions  given  the  pupils  proved  difficult  of  com- 
prehension to  a  large  number,  and  so  in  every  room  tested 
there  were  from  one  to  five  who  did  nothing  on  this  test. 
Whether  this  is  a  factor  which  should  be  given  great  weight 
is  an  open  question.  The  one  case  which  shows  marked  and 
uniform  differences  between  the  groups  is  the  Geometrical 
Forms.  In  this  test,  the  American  group  leads  clearly,  the 
Scandinavian  group  is  a  close  second,  and  the  Jewish  groups 
are  quite  deficient.  The  tabulation  of  the  combined  non- 
language  tests  gives  results  which  confirm  the  statement 
that  these  tests  do  not  show  clear-cut  differences,  taken  as  a 
group,  such  as  are  shown  in  the  language  group.    Ranking 


Nationality  and  Objective  Mental  Tests  73 

by  medians,  the  order  of  achievement  is:  first,  Russian  Jews, 
second,  Norwegians,  third,  Americans,  fourth,  Swedes,  fifth, 
Roumanian  Jews. 

By  way  of  testing  the  reliability  of  these  medians,  in  each 
case  a  ' 'reliability  coefficient"  is  given  which  is  derived 
according  to  the  formula  given  in  Thorndike's  Mental  and 
Social  Measurements,  Page  194,  where  the  P.  E.  (probable 
error)  of  the  obtained  median  from  the  true  median  is  given 
as  .6745  (f  .sigma-f-v^).  This  is  to  be  used  to  indicate  the 
probable  range  of  the  median,  and  so  to  determine  the 
likelihood  of  the  medians  being  interchanged  with  any  addi- 
tion to  or  increase  in  the  number  of  cases.  Thus,  in  the 
Language  Group  median  for  the  Americans,  the  median 
271.4  may  be  increased  and  decreased  by  the  coefficient 
3.4  to  indicate  the  probable  range,  271.4  plus  3.4  equaling 
274.8,  and  271.4  minus  3.4  equalling  268.0.  Thus  the 
probable  range  of  the  median  is  from  278.4  down  to  268.0. 
In  the  same  way,  the  probable  range  of  the  Roumanian 
Jewish  group  is  242.5  plus  or  minus  5.4,  or  a  range  of  247.9 
down  to  237.1.  It  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  chance  is 
very  remote  of  any  interchange  of  median  between  the 
American  and  Roumanian  Jewish  group.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  Non-Language  group,  the  American  range  is 
from  606.4  down  to  588.6,  and  the  range  of  the  Roumanian 
Jewish  group  from  581.0  down  to  549.0,  and  of  the  Russian 
Jewish  group  from  620.3  down  to  594.7.  Thus  there  is 
actual  overlapping  in  the  range  of  the  American  and  Russian 
groups,  and  only  a  margin  of  seven  points  separating  the 
Americans  and  Roumanians.  Here  the  significance  of  the 
medians  can  not  be  pronounced  very  definite.  Another 
way  of  showing  the  results  of  the  tables  is  given  in  Table 
xxvu.  Here  the  percentage  of  "overlapping"  of  the 
various  groups  with  the  American  Group  is  shown.  That 
is,  the  number  and  percentage  of  cases  of  each  group  which 


74 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


do  as  well  or  better  than  the  median  American  child  is  shown 
for  each  test. 

The  table  is  to  be  read  in  this  way:  Twenty  Norwegian 
children,  or  25.6%  of  the  Norwegian  children,  do  as  well  or 
better  than  the  median  American  child  in  the  Opposites 
Test.  Thirty-six  Swedes,  or  22.6%  of  the  Swedish  children, 
do  as  well  or  better  than  the  median  American  child  in  the 
Opposites  Test.  Seventeen  Russian  Jewish  children  or 
20.9%  of  the  Russian  Jewish  children  do  as  well  or  better 
than  the  median  American  in  the  Geometrical  Forms  Tests. 
Forty-eight  Norwegian  children,  or  61.5%  of  the  Norwegians 
do  as  well  or  better  than  the  median  American  child  in  the 
Number  Completion  Tests.  While  the  results  are  the 
same,  this  method  of  stating  them  may  appear  more  vivid 
than  the  comparison  of  medians. 


TABLE  XXVII 

SHOWING  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  EACH  OF  FOUR  NATIONAL  GROUPS  WHO  DO 
AS  WELL  OR  BETTER  THAN  THE  MEDIAN  AMERICAN  CHILD  IN  THE 
VARIOUS  OBJECTIVE  TESTS 


Test 

Amer- 
ican 

Norwegian 

Swedish 

Roumanian 
Jews 

Russian 
Jews 

Med. 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

Opposites 

55.4 
105.3 
112.2 
271.4 

154.9 
161.2 
160.2 
152.8 
597.5 

20 
21 
26 

22 

41 
25 
48 
32 
41 

25.6 
26.8 
33.3 
28.2 

52.5 
32.0 

61.5 
41.0 

52.5 

36 
44 

48 
38 

76 
51 
78 
70 
69 

22.6 
27.6 
30.1 
23.9 

47.8 
32.0 
.49.0 
44.0 

43.4 

13 
14 

25 
17 

24 
28 
31 
14 
22 

24.0 
25.9 
46.2 
31.4 

44.4 

51.8 
57.4 
25.9 
40.7 

19 
21 
35 
24 

47 
40 
45 
17 
43 

23.4 
25.9 

Vocabularies 

All  Language 

Substitutions 

Memory  Span .... 
No.  Completion.  . 

Geom.  Forms 

All  Xon-Language. 

43.2 
29.6 

58.0 
49.3 
55.5 
20.9 
53.0 

Nationality  and  Objectu  e  Mental  Tests  75 

The  conclusions  from  the  objective  tests  are  clearly  that 
the  American  child  of  the  third  generation  is  distinctly 
better  in  all  tests  requiring  language  abilities,  than  the 
children  of  the  foreign  born,  or  of  the  second  generation 
from  the  foreign  born.  In  general,  it  may  be  as  definitely 
said  that  there  are  no  great  national  differences  apparent 
in  the  abilities  which  do  not  require  language  knowledge 
or  familiarity.  The  only  exception  to  this  is  in  the  case  of 
perception  of  geometrical  form,  in  which  evidently  the 
racial  trend  of  the  Jewish  people  away  from  mechanics  and 
mechanical  ingenuity  seems  to  be  productive  of  a  definite 
loss  in  form-perception.  Further  conclusions  are  reserved 
for  Chapter  VIII. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  NATIONALITY  FACTOR  IN  RELATION  TO 

OTHER  FACTORS  AS  AFFECTING 

SCHOOL  PROGRESS 

Mobility  of  students. 

a.  One  marked  feature  of  public  school  conditions  in 
America,  and  a  feature  especially  marked  in  the  larger  cities, 
is  the  continual  shifting  of  pupils  between  schools  in  the  same 
city  and  between  localities  in  general.  This  restlessness 
of  the  typical  American  is  without  doubt  a  definite  factor  in 
the  progress,  or  rather  lack  of  progress,  of  many  children  in 
school.  The  study  under  consideration  has  been  worked 
out  to  show  the  relation  of  this  shifting  as  it  occurs  in  the 
various  nationality  groups  observed,  and  is  put  in  tabular 
form  in  the  following  pages. 

Two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  children  in 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  were  studied  in  this  connection, 
and  in  Table  xxvin  the  results  for  the  entire  group  are  col- 
lected. It  will  be  seen  that  521  out  of  the  total  number  have 
attended  school  in  other  cities  or  towns  than  the  one  in 
which  they  now  live — 21 . 5%,  or,  roughly,  one  in  every  five. 
One  thousand  four  hundred  eighty-two  have  attended  other 
schools,  either  in  the  same  district  or  outside,  than  the  one 
in  'which  now  enrolled/ — 61.1%,  nearly  two  out  of  every 
three.  Of  course,  a  certain  amount  of  this  shifting  within 
the  system  is  not  the  fault  of  the  pupil  (or  parent),  but  is 
due  to  the  administration  of  the  system — changing  of  school 
district  boundaries,  opening  of  new  buildings,  consolidation 
of  districts,  restricting  upper  grade  work  to  only  one  of  a 
group  of  three  or  more  buildings,  and  the  like.     Inspection 

76 


The  Nationality  Factor  77 

of  the  actual  schools  in  which  the  children  have  been  enrolled 
shows  that  this  administrative  factor  is  not  important  in  the 
situation  in  the  schools  studied,  and  this  is  further  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  schools  under  observation  are,  with 

TABLE  XXVIII 

MOBILITY    OF    2,423    MINNEAPOLIS    AND    ST.    PAUL    SCHOOL    CHILDREN,    SHOWING 
NUMBER  OF  SCHOOLS  THEY  HAVE  ATTENDED 

Number  who  have  attended  the  school  only  in  which  they  are 

now  enrolled 941 

Number  who  have  attended  2  schools  both  in  Minneapolis  (or 
St.  Paul) 555 

3  schools,  all  local 253 

4  schools,  all  local 98 

5  schools,  all  local 41 

6  or  more  schools,  all  local 14 

Total 961 

Number  who  have  attended  2  schools,  including  the  one  now 
attended  and  one  outside  of  the  city 160 

2  outside  of  the  city 41 

3  outside  of  the  city 13 

4  outside  of  the  city 5 

5  or  more  outside  the  city 2 

Total 221 

Number  who  have  attended  one  local  and  one  outside  of  the 
city,  in  addition  to  the  one  in  which  now  enrolled  (3  in  all) .  .  .  141 

4  in  all,  local  and  outside 79 

5  in  all,  local  and  outside 37 

6  in  all,  local  and  outside 24 

7  or  more  local  and  outside 19 

Total 300 

Total  who  have  attended  more  than  one  school 1,482 

Grand  Total 2,423 


78  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

summary  of  table  xxviii 

Number  who  have  attended  only  the  school  in  which  they  are  enrolled 941 

Number  who  have  attended  two  schools 715 

three  schools 435 

four  schools 190 

five  schools 83 

six  or  more  schools 59 

Total 2,423 

Number  who  have  attended  no  schools  outside  of  the  city  in  which  they  are 
living •  ■  .1,902 

Number  who  have  attended  school  in  other  localities  besides  the  one  in 
in  which  they  are  now  living 521 

Total 2,423 

one  exception,  large  buildings,  which  are  not  "fed"  by 
smaller  buildings.  In  this  one  case  (the  Jackson,  Minneapo- 
lis), the  pupils  were  considered,  if  coming  from  the  Clay  or 
Peabody  schools,  as  having  been  enrolled  continuously  in  one 
building  only,  and  so  are  not  included  in  the  totals  just 
quoted.  It  will  be  noted  that  59  children  have  each  attended 
six  or  more  schools  during  their  school  lives.  Some  of  these 
cases  are  notable.  Twelve  have  a  record  ranging  from 
eight  to  thirteen  schools;  all  of  these  are  retarded  from 
six  months  to  five  years,  with  one  exception,  and  this  one  is 
lowest  in  scholarship  rank  in  his  class.  All  but  two  are 
below  median  in  scholarship,  or  have  not  been  enrolled  long 
enough  in  the  school  in  question  to  have  received  a  mark  for 
the  semester,  and  so  are  required  to  repeat  the  grade.  The 
two  exceptions  are  a  girl  in  the  eighth  grade  of  the  Sibley 
School  of  St.  Paul,  who  had  attended  seven  other  schools 
in  St.  Paul  and  one  outside,  was  fifteen  years  and  four 
months  old,  but  ranked  first  in  her  class;  and  a  girl  in  the 
sixth  A  grade  of  the  Calhoun  School  of  Minneapolis,  whose 
father  was  an  itinerant  photographer;  she  had  attended  two 


The  Nationality  Factor 


79 


schools  in  Minneapolis  and  ten  outside,  besides  the  Calhoun, 
and  so  was  fourteen  years  and  two  months  old  before 
completing  the  sixth  grade,  altho  she  ranked  second  in  her 
class.  If  these  two  children  can  remain  static  for  the 
remainder  of  their  school  careers,  they  will  undoubtedly 
be  able  to  make  up  some  time  and  to  graduate  from  high 
school  before  twenty  years  of  age,  but  in  the  case  of  the 
other  ten,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  combination 
of  retardation  and  poor  scholarship  will  result  otherwise  than 
in  their  being  forced  to  leave  school  without  completing  the 
twelve  grades,  and  in  most  cases  it  will  mean  barely  com- 
pleting the  eighth. 

TABLE  XXIX 
SHOWING  MOBILITY  OF  SCHOOL  POPULATION,  AS  DISTRIBUTED  BETWEEN  NATION- 
ALITY GROUPS  1  TO  12,  INCLUSIVE,  GIVING  NUMBER 
OF  CASES 


Group 
Num- 
ber 

Nation 

Total 
Cases 

No.  Att. 

only  one 

School 

No.  Att. 
other 
locals 

No.  Att. 

other 

outside 

No.  Att. 

other  both 

local  & 

out 

1 
■2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

United  States .  .  . 
Great  Britain .  . . 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austro-Hun- 
gary 

342 
153 
184 
220 
423 

118 
96 

324 
29 
51 
24 
18 

124 
64 
76 
81 

198 

71 

40 

82 

9 

23 

8 

8 

103 
53 
76 
87 

156 

33 
40 
181 
15 
12 
10 
8 

49 
15 
15 
20 
37 

10 
4 

16 
1 

10 
2 
0 

66 
21 

17 
32 
32 

4 

7 
8 
9 

Roumanian  Jews 
Russian  Jews.  .  . 
Poland 

12 

45 

4 

10 
11 
12 

Finland 

Denmark 

Italy 

6 
4 
2 

1,982 

784 

774 

179 

245 

80 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


TABLE  XXX 

SHOWING  MOBILITY  OF  SCHOOL  POPULATION,  AS  DISTRIBUTED  BETWEEN  NATION- 

ALITY GROUPS  1  TO  12,  INCLUSIVE,  GIVING  PERCENTAGES  OF  EACH 

Total 

Percentage  Who  Have  Attended 

Group 

Num- 

Nation 

Cases 

Present 

Other 

Other 

Other  _ 

ber 

School 

Local 

Outside 

Both  Lo- 

Only 

Schools 

Schools 

cal  &  Out- 
side 

1 

United  States.  . . 

342 

36.2 

30.1 

14.4 

19.3 

2 

Great  Britain.  . . 

153 

41.8 

34.6 

9.8 

13.8 

3 

Germany 

184 

41.3 

41.3 

8.2 

9.2 

4 

Norway 

220 

36.8 

39.6 

9.1 

14.5 

5 

Sweden 

423 

46.8 

36.9 

8.7 

7.6 

6 

Austro-Hun- 

e:arv 

118 
96 

60.2 
41.6 

28.0 
41.6 

8.4 
4.2 

3.4 

r 

Roumanian  Jews 

12.6 

8 

Russian  Jews .  .  . 

324 

25.3 

56.0 

4.9 

13.8 

9 

Poland 

29 
51 

31.1 
45.1 

51.7 
23.5 

3.5 
19.6 

13.7 

10 

Finland 

11.8 

11 

Denmark 

24 

33.3 

41.7 

8.3 

16.7 

12 

Italy 

18 

44.4 

44.4 

0 

11.2 

39.5 

39.1 

9.0 

12.4 

Tables  xxix  anpl  xxx  show  the  distribution  of  this 
mobility  among  the  nationality  groups,  the  first  giving  the 
number  of  cases  and  the  second  the  percentages  for  each 
group.  The  significant  point  of  these  tables  is  that  the 
American  group,  which  is  least  retarded  in  general,  and 
stands  highest  in  scholarship,  also  is  the  most  mobile,  in 
so  far  as  movement  between  localities  is  concerned,  although 
they  are  not  as  mobile  within  the  system  as  the  Russian 
Jews.  This  shows  very  definitely  that  the  greater  retarda- 
tion and  less  acceleration  of  other  groups  cannot  be  explained 
on  the  ground  that  they  are  more  mobile   than   those   of 


The  Nationality  Factor  81 

American  ancestry.  It  also  seems  to  indicate  that  the  mobil- 
ity of  American  children  is  attended  with  less  disastrous 
results  than  in  the  case  of  other  nationalities.  In  fact, 
one  might  work  out  a  very  plausible  argument  to  the  effect 
that  the  resourcefulness  and  adaptability  which  have  come 
to  be  known  as  dominant  traits  of  the  typical  American  are 
developed  by  this  very  shifting  of  the  school  children. 

Occupation  of  parents. 

b.  The  occupation  of  fathers  of  1720  pupils  were  studied, 
and  were  classified  under  sixty  different  heads.  For  purposes 
of  this  study,  however,  it  seemed  satisfactory  to  combine 
these  under  the  heads  used  in  the  United  States  Census, 
namely,  Agriculture  and  Animal  Husbandry,  Manufactur- 
ing and  Mechanical  Trades,  Trade  and  Commerce,  Trans- 
portation, Public  Service,  Professions,  Domestic  and  Per- 
sonal Service,  Clerical. 

The  only  important  departure  from  this  classification 
was  the  addition  of  Unskilled  Labor  as  a  separate  division, 
and  a  corresponding  subtraction  from  the  preceding  groups 
of  those  shown  to  be  engaged  in  unskilled  labor. 

As  would  of  course  be  the  case  in  a  city,  the  first  group 
is  very  small.  The  types  of  occupation  classed  here  are 
nursery  and  greenhouse  owners  and  employees  and,  notably, 
a  group  of  Roumanian  Jews  who  are  interested  in  cattle 
raising  and  dealing  on  a  small  scale.  There  are  some  market 
gardeners  and  some  retired  farmers  in  the  list. 

The  influence  of  the  draft  had  been  felt  very  lightly  in 
the  families  reported  at  the  time  of  the  inquiry,  for  the 
number  reported  as  soldiers  or  sailors  under  the  heading 
Public  Service  was  but  six. 

Such  groups  as  Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Trades, 
and  Trade  and  Commerce,  are  not  very  enlightening,  for 
they  include  so  wide  a  range  of  occupation,  with  so  widely 


82 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


varying  abilities  required,  that  the  relationship  of  either 
group  to  intelligence  or  to  effect  on  school  progress  of 
children  is  not  very  clear.  Some  comments  will  clarify  the 
situation  somewhat.  The  large  number  of  Russian  Jews 
engaged  in  trade  includes  both  small  shop  keepers  and 
junk  dealers,  as  well  as  an  appreciable  number  of  peddlers. 
The  Swedes  engaged  in  Manufacturing  and  Mechanical 
Trades  are  principally  engaged  in  the  building  trades, 
51  of  the  168  being  carpenters  and  building  contractors; 
41  more  work  at  other  forms  of  building  industry;  only  26 
are  machinists  and  iron  workers,  as  contrasted  with  the 


TABLE  XXXI 

SHOWING    DISTRIBUTION    OF    FATHERS    OF    1,720    PUPILS    OF    12    NATIONALITIES 

ACCORDING  TO  OCCUPATIONS.     ACTUAL  NUMBERS  SHOWN 


_d 

t/2 

c 

o 

3 

X 

u 

.2 

V 

in 

IH- 

<u 

a 

C 

t/3 

c 

Pl, 

oj 

c 

& 

IH 

c 

6 

c 
.2 

cd 

C/3 

cd 
U 

6 

< 
bb 

ei 

o 
a 

1/3 

c 

Ed 

C/3 

.2 

3 

"35 
O 

g 

o 

13 

3J 

o 
S 

S 

o 

fc 

525 

fc 

< 

is 

H 

H 

Ph 

M 
7 

u 

14 

U 

1 

United  States.  .  . 

314 

7 

63 

109 

37 

8 

57 

12 

2 

Great  Britain .  .  . 

130 

0 

45 

22 

27 

8 

11 

5 

5 

7 

3 

Germany 

164 

1 

70 

29 

13 

2 

10 

13 

13 

13 

4 

Norway 

183 

2 

83 

25 

27 

3 

14 

9 

3 

17 

5 

Sweden 

354 

7 

168 

42 

58 

9 

17 

18 

9 

26 

6 

Austro-Hun- 

gary 

98 
83 

0 
2 

58 
31 

4 
38 

3 

8 

3 
0 

0 
0 

7 

1 

0 
1 

23 

7 

Roumanian  Jews 

2 

8 

Russian  Jews.  .  . 

289 

5 

99 

137 

18 

5 

8 

6 

3 

8 

Q 

Poland 

26 
45 

0 

1 

13 
31 

0 
3 

2 
3 

1 

2 

0 
1 

1 
0 

2 
0 

7 

10 

Finland 

4 

11 

Denmark 

21 

1 

9 

3 

2 

1 

0 

2 

0 

3 

1? 

Italian 

13 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

3 

3 

0 

5 

Totals 

1,720 

26 

670 

414 

198 

42 

121 

72 

50 

127 

The  Nationality  Factor 


83 


TABLE  XXXII 

SHOWING    PERCENTAGES    OF    FATHERS    OF    1,720    PUPILS    OF    12    NATIONALITIES 
ENGAGED  IN  VARIOUS  OCCUPATIONS 


c 

c 
.2 

<u 

t/J 

S3 

u 

6 

03 

3 

w 

d 

< 

b0 

< 

o 
u 

.8? 

r-1 

.2 

o 
a 

01 

C 
ed 

M 

H 

8) 

> 

<U 

3 

a 

.2 

p 

t/3 

CM 

s 

o 

Q 

V 

u 

y 

o 
sd 

c 
o 

i 

£ 
o 
U 

1 

United  States .  .  . 

314 

2.2 

20.0 

35.0 

11.7 

2.5 

18.1 

2.2 

4.4 

4.0 

2 

Great  Britain.  .  . 

130 

0.0 

34.6 

17.0 

20.0 

6.1 

8.4 

3.8 

3.8 

5.3 

3 

Germany 

164 

0.6 

42.8 

17.7 

7.9 

1.2 

6.1 

7.9 

7.9 

7.9 

4 

Norway 

183 

1.2 

45.3 

13.6 

14.8 

1.6 

7.7 

4.9 

1.6 

9.3 

5 

Sweden 

354 

2.0 

47.3 

12.0 

16.4 

2.5 

4.8 

5.1 

2.5 

7.4 

6 

Austro-Hungary. 

98 

0.0 

59.2 

4.0 

3.1 

3.1 

0.0 

7.1 

0.0 

23.5 

7 

Roumanian  Jews 

83 

2.4 

37.4 

45.8 

9.6 

0.0 

0.0 

1.2 

1.2 

2.4 

8 

Russian  Jews .  .  . 

289 

1.7 

34.3 

47.5 

6.2 

1.7 

2.8 

2.1 

1.0 

2.7 

9 

Poland 

26 

0  0 

50  0 

0  0 

7  7 

3  8 

0  0 

3  8 

7  7 

?7  0 

10 

Finland 

45 

2.2 

68.9 

6.7 

6.7 

4.4 

2.2 

0.0 

0.0 

8.9 

11 

Denmark 

21 

4.8 

42.8 

14.3 

9.5 

4.8 

0.0 

9.5 

0.0 

14.3 

1? 

Italian 

13 

0.0 

0.0 

15.3 

0.0 

0.0 

23.1 

23.1 

0.0 

38  5 

Totals 

1,720 

1.5 

39.0 

24.1 

11.5 

2.4 

7.0 

4.2 

2.9 

7.4 

Austro-Hungarian  group,  where  25  of  58  in  this  group  are 
machinists,  and  12  more  are  mill  operatives;  the  Norwegians 
also  contribute  more  to  the  building  trades  than  to  any 
other  industry;  the  German  group  contributes  the  only 
other  appreciable  number  to  building. 

Table  xxxi  gives  the  actual  numbers  engaged  in  each 
occupational  group;  Table  xxxn  gives  the  percentages  of 
distribution  of  each  group  among  the  various  occupations; 
Table  xxxm  shows  the  proportional  number  each  national- 
ity contributed  to  the  total  number  engaged  in  each  oc- 
cupational group.     The  tendency  of  American  parents  to 


84 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


table  XXXIII 

SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  OCCUPATION  AMONG  VARIOUS  NATIONALITIES,  GIVING 
PERCENTAGES  FOR  EACH  OCCUPATION 


~. 
a. 

3 

c 

6 

■i. 

— 
u 

'  - 
PQ 
u 

E 

O 

M 

O 

c 

o 

M 
bC 

c 

3 

6 

N 

DO 

3 

.21 

E 

C 

■x. 

3 

— 
a 

— 
c 

5 

- 

6 

c 

V 

o 

z 

P 

— 

'J 

K 

X 

< 

P* 

« 

PU 

fe 

U 

M 

Agriculture 

26 

27.0 

0.0 

3.8 

7.7 

27.0 

0.0 

7.7 

19.2 

0.0 

3.8 

3.8 

0.0 

Mfg.&Mech.... 

670 

9.4 

6.7 

10.5 

12.4 

25.1 

8.6 

4.6 

14.8 

1.9 

4.6 

1.4 

0.0 

Trade 

414 
198 

26.3 

13.7 

7.1 
6.5 

6.1 
13.7 

10.2 
29.3 

0.9 
1.5 

9.1 

4.0 

33.1 
9.1 

0.0 
1.0 

0.7 
1.5 

0.7 
1.0 

0.5 

Transport 

0.0 

Pub.  Service.  .  . 

42 

19.1 

19.1 

4.7 

7.1 

21.5 

7.1 

0.0 

12.1 

2.3 

4.7 

2.3 

0.0 

Professions 

121 

47.1 

9.1 

8.3 

11.6 

14.1 

0.0 

0.0 

6.6 

0.0 

0.8 

0.0 

2.4 

Dom.  &Per 

72 

9.7 

6.9 

18.1 

12.5 

25.0 

9.7 

1.4 

8.3 

1.4 

0.0 

2.8 

4.2 

Clerical 

50 

2-  u 

10.0 

26.0 

6.0 

18.0 

0.0 

2.0 

6.0 

4.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

Uns.  Labor 

127 

9.5 

5.5 

10.3 

13.5 

20.5 

18.1 

1.5 

6.3 

5.5 

3.1 

2.3 

3.9 

1.720 

professional  and  clerical  occupation  is  shown  very  clearly 
here;  the  large  number  of  the  Swedish  group  in  Transporta- 
tion is  explained  by  the  inclusion  of  street  railway  employees, 
section  laborers  and  teamsters  and  delivery  men  in  this 
group. 

It  is  rather  significant  that  the  Swedish  and  Norwegian 
population  engages  to  so  slight  a  degree  in  the  professional, 
clerical  and  mercantile  pursuits;  there  would  seem  to  be 
evident  a  direct  connection  between  this  tendency  and  the 
comparatively  slow  progress  of  the  children  in  school;  the 
children  of  such  parentage  do  not  have  the  same  advantages 
in  the  way  of  reading  matter,  are  not  stimulated  to  attain 
to  a  high  degree  of  scholastic  proficiency,  do  not  appreciate 
the  necessity  of  application  to  scholastic  work;  it  is  of  course 


The  Nationality  Factor  85 

commendable  that  the  very  necessary  and  vital  trades  of 
general  construction  and  building  are  maintained  as  one  of 
the  heritages  of  Swedish  children;  but  there  should  be  no 
monopoly  of  such  an  occupation,  so  that  a  class  feeling 
would  grow  up,  by  which  any  one  nationality  should  control 
or  dominate  in  the  industry.  There  would  certainly  seem 
to  be  a  strong  indication  that  the  Swedish  element  in  the 
population  of  the  Twin  Cities,  at  least,  is  not  grasping  the 
opportunity  to  profit  by  education  to  the  same  extent  as 
other  newccmers,  such  as  the  Russian  Jews. 

Economic  status  of  parents. 

c.  An  element  which  is  tangible  and  definite  in  estimating 
the  economic  condition  of  a  community  is  the  number  of 
citizens  in  that  community  who  own  their  homes.  In  the 
present  inquiry  data  were  collected  from  2365  pupils  of 
whom  1936  belong  to  the  12  nationality  groups  especially 
considered.  Table  xxxiv  gives  the  result  of  the  inquiry.  It 
will  be  noted  that  the  Austrians,  Poles,  and  Finns  head  the 
list,  with  very  definite  percentages  in  their  favor.  The 
American  and  Norwegian  groups,  on  the  other  hand,  rank 
very  low  in  the  list.  This  disposition  of  the  typical  American 
to  rent  is  quite  in  line  with  his  restlessness  as  shown  in  the 
study  of  the  mobility  of  the  school  population;  it  was 
therefore  to  be  expected,  and  in  general,  the  two  tables  show 
a  very  close  relation.  Viewed  in  the  light  of  general  social 
conditions  in  a  large  city,  the  study  points  some  very  definite 
tendencies.  The  fact  of  the  high  ownership  of  homes  among 
the  Austro-Hungarians  is  due  to  the  large  number  of  Slovaks 
owning  their  homes.  It  is  the  habit  of  these  people  to  settle 
in  rather  humble  surroundings,  and  to  become  permanent 
in  such  localities — from  the  view-point  of  the  American,  to 
stagnate.  On  the  other  hand,  the  well  known  tendency  of 
the  Russian  Jew  to  progress  in  the  social  scale  from  one 


86 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


environment  to  a  boater,  finally  invading  the  most  exclusive 
residential  districts  as  his  financial  accumulations  permit,  is 
not  so  apparent  in  the  table,  as  would  seem  likely — but  his 
ownership  of  home  is  to  be  looked  on  in  the  light  of  pecuniary 
investment  for  quick  sale,  rather  than  as  a  domicile  for  the 
remainder  of  his  natural  life.  Therefore,  the  ownership  of 
a  home  by  the  Russian  means  "a  very  different  thing  from 
the  case  of  the  Slovak.  It  is  more  nearly  an  index  of 
improving  economic  standards.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
non-ownership  of  home  by  the  American  does  not  mean  a 
correspondingly  low  economic  status, *but  rather  a  tendency 
to  invest  money  in  other  ways  than  in  real  estate.  It  is 
difficult  to  account  satisfactorily  for  the  disparity  between 
the  Norwegians  and  Swedes  in  the  table.     It  may  be  simply 


TABLE  XXXIV 


NUMBER    AND    PERCENTAGE    OF    EACH    NATIONAL    GROUP 

HOMES 

OWNING    OR    RENTING 

Group 
No. 

Nation 

Total 
Cases 

Owning  Homes 

Renting  Homes 

Number 

% 

Number 

% 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

United  States. . 
Great  Britain .  . 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austro-Hun- 
gary 

327 
151 
180 
213 
414 

114 

93 
323 
29 
51 
24 
17 

136 
71 
97 
81 

200 

79 

39 
167 
23 
32 
10 
6 

41.6 
47.1 
53.9 
38.1 
48.3 

69.3 

41.9 
51.7 
79.3 
62.7 
41.8 
35.3 

191 

80 

83 

132 

214 

35 

54 
156 
6 
19 
14 
11 

58.4 
52.9 
46.1 
61.9 
51.7 

30.7 

7 

Roumanian 
Jews 

58.1 

8 

9 

10  . 
11 
12 

Russian  Jews. . . 

Poland 

Finland 

Denmark 

Italy 

48.3 
20.7 
37.3 
58.2 
64.7 

Medians 

1,936 

47.7 

52.3 

The  Nationality  Factor  87 

another  difference  showing  that  there  is  not  the  general 
similarity  in  the  two  nations  that  has  commonly  been 
assumed. 

This^study  is  not  very  illuminating  in  throwing  light  on 
the  subject  of  probable  school  progress.  It  rather  indicates 
that  the  ownership  of  the  home  in  a  city  is  not  at  all  the 
reliable  economic  index  it  has  generally  been  assumed  to  be, 
further  than  to  show  the  dividing  line  between  a  tendency 
to  thrift,  and  a  condition  of  definite  poverty.  It  does  not 
seem  to  give  that  evidence  of  a  home  atmosphere  conducive 
to  scholastic  application  that  is  to  be  expected  as  an  accom- 
paniment of  the  higher  economic  status  in  life. 

Home  conditions. 

d.  Closely  allied  with  the  economic  status  of  the  family  is 
the  general  condition  of  the  home :  the  size  of  family,  presence 
of  parents,  the  tendency  to  church  attendance  and  religious 
training,  are  factors  which  are  of  importance  to  the  welfare 
of  the  state,  and  may  have  a  bearing  upon  the  school  life  of 
the  children. 

One  child  in  every  eleven  of  those  studied  has  no  father; 
for  of  2397xases  reporting,  the  fathers  of  223  were  dead,  or 
supposed  to  be  dead!  There  were  others  who  were  living 
with  the  mother  alone,  indicating  a  separation  from  the 
father,  but  these  could  not  be  verified  with  enough  cases  to 
warrant  a  tabulation.  It  is  quite  certain  that  at  le'ast  10% 
of  the  children  do  not  have  the  father's  influence  in  the  home; 
the  fact  that  this  condition,  as  indicated  in  Table  xxxv,  is 
worst  in  the  three  larger  groups,  of  Germans,  Swedes  and 
Roumanians,  in  view  of  the  varying  records  of  these  three 
groups  in  the  records  of  scholarship  and  intelligence,  would 
indicate  for  these  three  groups  that  there  was  not  much 
relationship  between  the  presence  of  the  father  and  school 
progress. .  But  the  absence  of  the  mother  may  be  a  more 


88 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


serious  factor,  for  the  largest  percentage  of  mothers  dead 
is  found  among  the  Norwegians  and  Swedes.  Fortunately, 
there  are  not  so  many  homes  without  mothers  for  only  one 
child  out  of  every  twenty  had  lost  his  mother;  106  being 
dead  out  of  the  total  of  2397.  Of  the  85  widows  who  are 
supporting  their  families  in  whole  or  part,  15  are  American 
and  20  are  Swede.  This  is  a  percentage  of  60%  American 
widows  who  are  working,  as  against  47%  Swedes.  This 
high  percentage  of  Americans  who  have  left  their  families 
destitute  may  be  an  evidence  of  the  tendency  of  American 
families  to  live  up  their  incomes,  or  it  may  be  the  social 
pressure  which  stresses  the  desire  to  maintain  a  higher 
standard  of  living  than  is  essential  in  cases  of  other  national- 
ities. The  occupations  of  these  widows  will  be  found  in 
Table  xxxv. 

TABLE  XXXV 
NUMBER  OF  PUPILS  IN  EACH  NATIONALITY  GROUP  WITH  ONE  OR  BOTH  PARENTS 

DEAD 


Group 

Nation 

Fathers 
Dead 

Mothers 
Dead 

Both 
Dead 

Widows 
Working 

Total 
Cases 

No. 

Xo. 

or 

Vo 

No. 

% 

Number 

2 

3 
4 

United  States .  .  . 

Great  Britain 

Germany 

Norway 

25 

17 

21 

20 

47 

10 

11 

25 

1 

7 

3 

2 

7.1 
10.3 
11.8 

9.3 
11.2 

7.7 
11.1 

7.4 

2.6 
15.5 
13.7 
11.1 

16 
4 
7 

15 

32 
3 
4 

11 
3 
1 
1 
0 

4.6 
2.4 
4.0 
6.9 
7.6 
2.3 
4.4 
3.2 
7.8 
2.2 
4.6 
0.0 

1 
0 
2 
2 
6 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

15 
5 
6 
7 

20 
3 
1 
4 
1 
4 
1 
1 

350 
165 
177 
215 

5 

Sweden 

420 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

Austro-Hungary. 
Roumanian  Jews 
Russian  Jews. .  .  . 

Poland 

Finland 

129 

99 

336 

38 
45 

11 
12 

Denmark 

Italy 

22 
18 

The  Nationality  Factor  89 

occupations  of  85  widows  who  are  working 

Personal  and  Domestic  Service 31 

Sewing 11 

Clerks 8 

Factory  Employees 7 

Stenog.  &  Bookkeeping 6 

Boarding  or  Rooming  house 3 

Nurse  &  Matron 4 

Canvassers 4 

Miscellaneous 7 

"State  Pensions" J^_ 

85 

The  study  of  the  size  of  family  has  brought  out  no  new 
facts,  but  is  reported  for  its  bearing  on  the  general  situation. 
Two  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty- two  children  re- 
ported on  this  item,  and  these  were  carefully  checked  to 
avoid  duplicating  pupils  in  the  same  family.  Duplicates 
were  found  in  215  cases,  so  that  actually  2137  families  were 
studied.  One  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-six 
of  these  belonged  in  the  12  nationality  groups  shown  in 
Table  xxxvi,  and  these  show  a  family  of  four  children  to  be 
the  median  number  for  the  group.  The  largest  family 
reported  contains  fifteen  children,  an  English  family;  there 
are  three  of  fourteen  each,  two  being  English  and  one  Fin- 
nish; there  are  two  of  thirteen,  one  Austrian  and  one  Russian 
Jew;  and  three  of  twelve  each,  German,  Norwegian  and 
Finn.  There  are  nine  families  of  eleven  each,  and  then 
the  number  jumps  to  thirty  of  ten  each.  American  and 
Danish  families  show  a  median  of  three  children,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  Norway,  Sweden  and  Finland,  four  each, 
Austrian,  Roumanian  and  Russia,  five  each,  while  Poland 
and  Italy  are  most  productive  with  six  each.  One  factor 
of  error  in  this  study  should  be  noted.  There  was  a  tendency 
to  count  deceased  brothers  and  sisters,  and  a  tendency  for 


90 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


the  child  to  count  himself  in  giving  the  number  of  his  brothers 
or  sisters.  Where  possible  this  was  corrected,  but  it  could 
not  be  checked  in  all  cases;  the  result  is  that  the  figures  in 
the  table  are  probably  somewhat  too  high.  It  is  certain 
that  they  are  not  too  low.     The  small  size  of  American 

TABLE  XXXVI 
SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  FAMILIES  OF  VARIOUS  SIZES,  AMONG  TWELVE 

NATIONALITIES,  INVOLVING  1786  FAMILIES 


No 

Nation 

No. 
Fami- 
lies 

Number  of  Children  Per  Family 

1 

2 

91 
32 
40 
28 
61 

11 

4 
22 
1 
7 
2 
1 

3 

80 

25 
28 
38 

77 

11 

11 

34 
3 
8 

10 
0 

4 

45 
26 
29 
36 
70 

12 

10 

49 

0 

8 
1 

2 

5 

21 
11 
20 

23 

57 

18 

21 
54 
4 
6 
2 
4 

6 

12 
10 
10 

30 
28 

16 

13 

55 

12 

2 

2 

4 

7 

8 
8 

11 
9 

27 

19 

6 
28 
1 
5 
1 
3 

8 

2 
3 
5 
5 
18 

5 

8 

15 

1 

2 
0 

9 

3 
4 

5 
4 
4 

6 

6 

10 
3 
3 

1 

10 

0 
3 
6 
3 
2 

3 

5 
4 
2 
2 

11 

1 
0 
0 

0 

1 

2 

5 
0 

12 

0 
1 
1 

0 

0 

1 

13 

0 

1 

0 

14 
2 

1 

15 

1 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

United  States. 
Great  Britain. 

Germany 

Norway 

Sweden 

Austro-Hun- 

gary 

Roumanian 

Jews 

Russian  Jews . 

Poland 

Finland 

Denmark .... 
Italy 

Total 

320 
135 
172 
191 

378 

109 

88 
284 
27 
46 
21 
15 

57 
10 
17 
14 
33 

5 

4 

7 
0 
1 
2 
0 

1 

1,786 

150 

300 

325 

288 

241 

194 

126 

65 

49 

30 

9 

3 

2 

3 

1 

median  number  of  children  per  family 

For  Entire  Group 4 

For  United  States  &  Denmark ....   3 
For  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Nor- 
way, Sweden  and  Finland 4 

For  Austro-Hungary,  Roumania, 

and  Russia 5 

For  Poland  &  Italy 6 


The  Nationality  Factor  91 

families  is  reasonably  one  of  the  causes  of  better  school 
progress.  In  the  smaller  family,  the  children  have  more 
attention,  and  there  is  both  more  time  for  the  mother  to 
concentrate  her  energies  on  the  children,  and  fewer  objects 
for  the  concentration. 

Five-sixths  of  the  parents  studied  belong  to  some  church. 
Three  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  parents  were 
reported,  exclusive  of  the  Jews,  who  were  not  taken  into 
account,  as  they  are  already  included  in  the  Russian  Jew  and 
Roumanian  Jewish  groups  which  have  been  reported  thruout 
this  study.  Of  the  3136  parents,  532  belonged  to  no  church. 
One  thousand  fifty-nine  are  Lutherans,  456  Roman  Catho- 
lics, 316  Methodists,  192  Presbyterians,  141  Baptists,  117 
Protestant  Episcopals,  105  Congregationalists,  73  Greek  or 
Orthodox  Russian  Catholics,  and  the  rest  distributed 
between  twelve  other  denominations.  There  are  evident 
the  expected  tendencies  for  church  preferences  to  follow 
national  lines.  The  Lutherans  are  made  up  almost  entirely 
of  Swedes,  Norwegians  and  Germans;  the  Methodists  are 
nearly  all  American;  the  Orthodox  Catholics  come  from  the 
Austrian  mixtures;  the  Baptists  have  more  Swedish  members 
than  American,  the  numbers  being  48  and  39  respectively; 
the  Presbyterians,  Congregationalist,  and  Christian  Churches 
are  all  American;  the  Protestant  Episcopal  about  equally 
divided  between  Americans  and  English;  the  Roman 
Catholics  have  their  largest  membership  among  the  Irish, 
English,  and  Canadian  group,  with  the  Americans,  Germans 
and  Austrians  contributing  the  next  largest  groups;  all  of 
the  Italians  and  practically  all  of  the  Poles  are  Roman 
Catholics.  The  most  significant  group  is  the  Non-member 
group:  here,  165  of  the  532  are  Swedes;  there  were  651 
Swedes  studied;  hence  25.4%  of  the  Swedes  are  not  church 
members.  The  next  largest  group  are  Americans,  84  of  559, 
or  15%;  next  came  the  Norwegians,  with  57  out  of  370, 


92 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


or  15.4%;  next,  the  Germans,  with  44  out  of  309,  or  14.2%; 
then  the  Great  Britain  group,  with  24  out  of  252,  or  9.5%. 
It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  this  tendency  of  the  Swedes  to 
break  from  the  church  is  much  greater  than  in  the  other 
nationalities,  even  of  the  Americans.  The  effect  on  the 
home  is  without  doubt  a  very  real  and  in  the  main,  unfor- 
tunate factor  in  the  life  of  the  children.  It  may  well  be 
that  it  is  a  more  direct  cause,  than  at  first  thought  may 
appear,  in  the  unfavorable  showing  that  is  made  in  the 
scholarship  and  test  tables.  At  any  rate  it  is  significant  to 
point  out  the  need  for  a  careful  study  of  the  relationship 
between  church  or  Sunday  School  attendance  and  school 
progress.  In  Table  xxxvn  will  be  found  a  summary  of 
the  statistics  for  the  twelve  important  nationality  groups. 


TABLE  XXXVII 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP  OF  2,546  PARENTS  OF  12  NATIONALITIES. 
ACTUAL  NUMBERS  SHOWN 


6 

en 

A 

fc 

rrt 

o 

d 

.2 

u 

A 

U 

W 

c/5 

a 

a, 

on 

O 

fe 

fe 

s 
J 

« 

% 

CM 

pq 

u 

CM 

o 

U 

o 

O 

a 

1 

United  States . . 

559 

12 

62 

140 

70 

39 

39 

54 

0 

59 

84 

2 

Great  Britain . . 

252 

6 

112 

28 

22 

10 

36 

5 

0 

9 

24 

3 

Germany 

309 

121 

60 

35 

9 

7 

8 

5 

0 

20 

44 

4 

Norway 

370 

263 

5 

20 

10 

3 

1 

4 

0 

7 

57 

5 

Sweden 

651 

372 

1 

32 

13 

48 

2 

11 

1 

6 

165 

6 

Austro-Hun- 

crarv 

?10 

41 

58 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

7? 

?1 

16 

9 

Poland 

51 

0 

46 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

2 

10 

Finland 

80 

71 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

9 

11 

Denmark 

33 

15 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

14 

12 

Italian 

31 

0 

31 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2,546 

901 

375 

255 

127 

109 

86 

80 

73 

125 

415 

The  Nationality  Factor  93 

A  study  was  made  of  the  husbands  and  wives  who  were 
both  church  members,  but  belonged  to  different  sects  or 
denominations.  But  of  the  total  number  studied,  only  74 
cases  of  this  sort  were  found,  and  so,  on  account  of  the  small 
number,  the  tabulation  is  omitted  from  this  study.  Such 
a  condition,  of  course,  may  well  be  a  disturbing  factor  in 
the  home,  although  not  necessarily  so.  At  any  rate,  there 
are  so  few  cases  of  the  sort  that  they  may  be  considered 
negligible  in  this  inquiry. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS 

In  Chapter  V  the  study  of  retardation  brought  out  the 
fact  that  there  were  differences  in  amount  of  retardation 
existing  between  various  national  groups.  In  like  manner 
the  study  of  acceleration  demonstrated  that  differences 
existed  between  these  national  groups  in  respect  to  the 
number  of  children  ahead  of  their  normal  place  in  the  grades. 
In  general,  these  two  relationships  were  shown  to  have  an 
inverse  agreement,  that  is,  the  greater  the  acceleration,  the 
less  the  retardation.  The  examination  of  the  marks  made 
by  these  same  children  in  their  school  work  again  demon- 
strated that  there  were  appreciable  differences  existing  be- 
tween the  nationality  groups.  In  each  of  these  studies 
there  were  found  to  be  certain  notable  facts.  The  American 
group  stood  at  or  next  to  the  head  in  all  of  the  studies.  The 
Scandinavian  group  stood  in  a  median  position  as  compared 
with  the  entire  number.  The  Jewish  group  showed  less 
stability,  the  Russians  in  general  placing  midway  between 
the  Norwegians  and  the  Swedes,  but  the  Roumanians 
exhibiting  wide  divergences?  All  indications,  however, 
pointed  to  the  conclusion  that  there  were  definite  national 
differences,  but  the  unreliability  of  the  school  marks  cast  a 
doubt  upon  the  reliability  of  these  conclusions,  even  when 
they  were  based  upon  the  quartile  standing  of  the  pupils 
within  the  same  school,  and  not  between  different  schools. 
Accordingly  as  a  diagnostic  measure,  in  Chapter  VI  is 
described  the  application  of  objective  tests  to  as  many  of  the 
children  involved  in  the  original  investigation  as  could  be 
readily  reached.     The  result  of  these  objective  tests  demon- 

94 


Summary  and  Conclusions  95 

strated  beyond  doubt  that  the  differences  indicated  in  the 
tables  of  Chapter  V  persist  when  the  pupils  are  subjected 
to  tests  of  a  uniform  nature,  given  under  uniform  conditions. 
In  fact,  the  results  of  the  objective  tests  give  more  dis- 
criminating results  even  than  shown  by  the  comparison  of 
school  marks.  One  way  of  showing  this  is  to  compare  the 
results  of  Tables  xxm  (p.  57)  and  xxvn  (p.  74).  In  the 
first  the  percentages  of  three  nationality  groups  doing  as  well 
or  better  than  the  American  groups  in  school  marks  is  shown. 
In  the  other,  the  same  comparison  is  made  for  the  tests. 
The  advantage  of  the  tests  as  diagnostic  measures  is  immedi- 
ately seen,  for  the  superiority  of  the  American  group  on  all 
language  tests  is  brought  out  with  startling  emphasis,  while 
the  comparatively  slight  differences  in  the  non-language 
groups  is  also  clear  cut  and  well  defined.  Thus  the  entire 
result  of  the  tests  is  to  corroborate  the  findings  of  Chapter  V 
to  the  effect  that  there  are  real  national  differences. 

But  the  question  immediately  arises:  Are  these  national 
differences  inherent?  Are  they  results  of  the  transplanting 
of  the  foreigner  and  may  they  be  expected  to  disappear  when 
he  has  been  assimilated?  Or  are  they  a  combination  of  both? 
The  objective  tests  suggest  the  answer.  The  differences 
are  most  marked  in  the  language  tests.  All  presentation 
of  school  work,  even  in  manual  training  and  domestic  science, 
is  dependent  on  clear  understanding  of  English.  Therefore 
it  is  definitely  certain  that  those  pupils  who  comprehend 
most  clearly  and  distinctly  the  instruction  which  is  given, 
other  things  being  equal,  will  progress  the  most  rapidly,  and 
accomplish  the  most,  both  in  quantity  and  quality.  But 
these  school  marks,  which  show  the  differences  noted,  were 
taken  in  the  last  three  years  of  the  elementary  school  course, 
when  all  language  difficulties  are  assumed  by  many  to  have 
disappeared.  In  fact  the  great  result  of  the  tests  is  to 
indicate   the  probability   that  language   difficulty  has  not 


96  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

disappeared,  even  in  pupils  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades. 
The  Cleveland  Survey  Report,  already  quoted,  says  on  this 
point,  with  reference  to  the  reading  tests  (Measuring  the 
Work  of  the  Public  Schools,  P.  144):  "The  fact  that  the 
American  child  is  not  handicapped  by  unfamiliarity  with 
the  English  Language  gives  him  a  slight  advantage  during 
the  first  few  years.  Italian  pupils  are  seriously  handicapped. 
The  sections  of  the  city  in  which  these  pupils  live  are  such 
that  factors  other  than  mere  lack  of  English  in  the  homes  are 
probably  to  be  recognized  as  contributing  to  the  low  rank  of 
these  pupils."  And  again  (P.  147):  "Poles  and  Bohemians 
make  slow  progress  during  the  first  year,  follow  the  average 
closely  for  the  next  four,  and  then  drop  below  the  average 
during  the  next  three  years.  Language  handicaps  doubtless 
will  explain  the  slow  start  received  in  the  first  grade.  There 
are  no  available  data  to  explain  the  apparent  weaknesses 
in  the  upper  grades." 

The  result  of  the  studies  herein  made  show  how  hasty 
is  this  judgment  that  language  difficulties  disappear  with 
the  "first  few  years."  The  evidence  is  clear  to  show  that  the 
language  superiority  of  the  American  child  places  him  at  an 
advantage  during  his  entire  elementary  school  course,  and 
it  is  fair  to  conclude,  even  into  the  high  school.  The  study 
in  Chapter  IV  of  language  persistence  in  the  home  further 
corroborates  this  finding.  When  the  children  are  obliged 
to  use  the  foreign  language  in  the  home  circle  to  so  great 
an  extent  as  indicated  in  that  study,  it  is  seen  that  this 
language  situation  is  bound  to  persist  later  than  the  first 
few  years  of  the  child's  school  life.  When  the  situation 
continues  to  such  an  extent  that  the  American  born  child 
himself  continues  the  foreign  language  as  the  home  language 
even  when  he  is  married  and  has  a  home  of  his  own,  as  was 
shown  to  be  the  case  in  an  appreciable  number  of  instances, 
the  fact  of  his  language  handicap  is  accentuated,  and  worse 


Summary  and  Conclusions  97 

yet,  the  handicap  is  perpetuated  as  a  national  heritage  to 
the  third  generation,  at  least. 

The  objective  tests  show  other  differences.  The  geomet- 
rical forms  tests  bring  out  conclusively  that  there  are  well 
defined  racial  differences  in  abilities  of  a  constructive  nature. 
The  lack  of  mechanical  and  inventive  occupations  among 
the  Jews  is  largely  explained  by  their  lack  of  ability  to 
handle  such  situations  successfully.  The  skill  of  the 
Scandinavians  in  just  such  situations  is  accented.  Aside 
from  this  test,  however,  no  great  inherent  differences 
between  the  nationalities  are  brought  out.  The  American 
holds  his  own  in  the  comparison,  but  makes  no  highly  marked 
showing  of  superiority,  as  he  does  in  the  language  tests. 
Our  general  answer  to  the  question  of  the  future,  when  all 
of  these  nationalities  are  fused  into  the  American  stock,  and 
really  assimilated,  is  that  the  disappearance  of  language 
difficulties  will  carry  with  it  the  disappearance  of  other 
marked  differences  among  the  descendants  of  these  children. 
With  reference  to  the  present  situation,  further,  the 
.subsidiary  studies  afford  evidence  to  show  that  certain 
factors,  which  are  ordinarily  considered  as  important,  vary 
with  the  national  groups,  thus  accentuating  the  finding  that 
there  are  differences  between  these  groups.  Thus,  the 
American  is  marked  among  the  other  nationalities  for  his 
mobility— and  yet  holds  his  position  of  priority  in  the 
school,  despite  this  generally  conceded  handicap  to  effective 
school  progress.  Closely  related  to  this  are  his  transient 
home  ties,  shown  by  the  large  percentage  of  Americans 
who  rent  their  homes,  rather  than  owning  them.  This, 
again,  is  popularly  supposed  to  promote  retardation  and 
poor  scholarship— but  the  American  triumphs  over  ^  this 
supposed  handicap.  The  American  parent  is  most  likely 
to  be  occupied  in  professional  and  clerical  pursuits,  involv- 
ing the  higher  types  of  merchandising  and  manufacturing, 


98 


Nationality  and  School  Progress 


and  this  tendency  to  follow  pursuits  which  require  familiarity 
with  professional  and  trade  literature  is  a  decided  advantage 
to  the  child,  even  though  this  literature  is  not  of  a  definitely 
educational  character.  For  the  habit  of  reading,  even  if 
it  be  simply  trade  and  manufacturing  journals  and  reports, 
implies  a  familiarity  with  the  niceties  of  language,  and  a 
comprehension  of  its  technical  and  more  abstruse  uses, 
which  has  its  effect  on  the  vocabulary  and  language  tone  of 
the  home.  Here  again  the  language  superiority  of  the 
American  has  an  explanation  as  well  as  a  verification. 

The  general  study  has  brought  out  incidentally  the 
imperative  need  of  greater  uniformity  in  the  system  em- 
ployed to  mark  the  school  progress  of  the  children.  It  has 
shown  that  within  a  school  system  favorably  known  thruout 
the  country  for  its  modern  methods  of  handling  school 
problems,  very  great  divergences  exist  in  the  method  of 
marking  the  school  progress  of  the  children.  So,  just  as 
the  study  has  pointed  out  a  method  by  which  the  superin- 
tendent may  discover  different  standards  of  marking  in 
his  school  buildings,  it  also  demonstrates  how  he  may,  by 
the  use  of  objective  tests,  determine  whether  such  differences 
as  are  apparent  are  justified  by  the  abilities  of  the  children 
in  these  schools.  An  illustration  of  this  is  shown  in  the  result 
of  evaluating  the  results  of  the  objective  tests  in  Schools  1, 
8,  and  9,  which  are  respectively  the  highest,  the  next  to  the 
lowest,  and  the  lowest  in  the  medians  reported  in  Table 
xvni,  p.  50,  for  the  relative  school  marks  given  in  these 
schools.  The  results  of  the  tests  in  these  schools,  raw 
scores  reported,  is  as  follows:     Averages  of  all  groups — 


School 

Opp. 

Trab. 

Vocab. 

Subst. 

Mem. 
Sp. 

No. 

Comp. 

Geom. 
Forms 

1 

49.7 

12.6 

56.9 

74.9 

15.2 

12.3 

7.1 

8 

57.3 

13.3 

58.1 

79.9 

16.1 

12.5 

8.2 

9 

45.9 

11.5 

54.4 

71.0 

16.4 

10.1 

5.5 

Summary  and  Conclusions  99 

This  comparison  shows  conclusively  that  there  is  no 
justification  for  School  No.  1  adopting  a  higher  scale  of 
grading  its  pupils  than  is  used  in  School  No.  8,  which 
actually  surpasses  it  in  every  test.  There  is  more  justifica- 
tion for  the  low  marking  median  shown  in  School  No.  9, 
but  not  enough  difference  to  justify  the  great  divergence  of 
the  school  from  the  school  median  shown  in  Table  xvin. 
Accordingly  the  objective  test  proves  its  utility  once  more 
as  a  supervisory  instrument. 

General  Conclusions: 

While  the  investigation  has  developed  primarily  into  the 
consideration  of  an  administrative  problem  for  the  school 
superintendent,  yet  there  are  also  pertinent  conclusions  for 
the  general  reader,  and  most  significant  indications  of 
necessary  procedure  for  the  citizen  who  is  really  concerned 
about  the  problems  of  Americanization  and  naturalization — 
problems  vitally  involved  with  the  future  of  our  common- 
wealth. 

To  the  general  reader,  the  conclusion  is  to  be  stressed  that 
there  is  no  justification  either  to  despise  the  attainments 
of  the  foreign  born  and  his  offspring,  or  to  sublimate  his 
achievement  unduly  at  the  expense  of  the  native  American. 
In  general,  there  are  no  such  marked  differences  in  native 
attainment,  as  to  justify  the  sort  of  sweeping  assertions 
cited  in  the  early  part  of  this  study.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
handicap  which  does  exist,  one  of  language  difficulty,  is 
one  that  is  very  real,  and  is  not  to  be  dismissed  with  a  laugh 
and  an  assumption  that  this  difficulty  carries  with  it  native 
incapacity.  The  real  position  to  be  taken  is  that  this 
handicap  is  a  formidable  obstacle  to  proper  progress  of  the 
foreigner  not  only  in  school,  but  in  all  walks  of  life,  and  that 
it  is  the  concern  of  every  American  to  see  that  all  possible 
steps  are  taken  to  remove  the  difficulty. 


100  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

To  the  school  superintendent,   this  conclusion  assumes 
particular  force.     This  study  has  pointed  the  way  for  him 
to  evaluate  his  school  system  in  terms  of  nationality.     It 
has  shown  him  the  need  for  looking  below  the  surface  and 
endeavoring  to  discover  the  hidden  facts  which  make  for 
better  school  work  and  school  progress,  or  for  the  reverse. 
Th?  suggestion  is  evident  that  there  must  be  a  greater 
flexibility  of  the  school  curriculum  and  methods,  to  meet 
such    situations    as    have    been    disclosed.     Where    great 
numbers  of  children  are  handicapped  by  stubbornly  per- 
sisting difhculties  of  language,  this  difficulty  must  be  fought 
and  reduced,  if  it  can  not  be  eliminated.     This  can  not  be 
done    by    ordinary    school-room    procedure.     A    splendid 
illustration  of  this  is  brought  out  by  the  result  of  the  vocabu- 
lary tests  in  the  case  of  the  Jewish  children.     In  Table  xxvi 
it  will  be  noted  that  the  Jewish  groups  did  much  better  in 
this   test   than   did   the   Scandinavian   groups.     This   test 
involved  a  familiarity  with  the  vocabulary  of  the  school, 
and  especially  of  the  school  histories.     But  on  the  other 
hand,  when  the  results  of  the  Trabue  and  Opposite  tests  were 
studied,  the  Jewish  children  did  no  better  than  the  Scandi- 
navians.  These  two  tests  require  not  a  knowledge  of  "school- 
room English,"  but  a  practical  application  of  the  vocabulary 
and  expression  of  daily  life.     It  is  a  fair  conclusion  that  the 
Jewish    groups    under    observation    have    more    diligently 
applied  themselves  to  the  acquisition  of  the  English  of  the 
school  room,  but  that  this  knowledge  has  not  really  benefited 
them  in  any  marked  degree  when  it  comes  to  the  application 
of  the  language  facility  to  the  expression  of  every  day  life. 
For  such  foreign  born  groups,  then,  the  lesson  for  the  super- 
intendent is  that  he  must  add  to  the  usual  class-room  pro- 
cedure in  language,   special  drill  in  expression,   oral  and 
written,  more  definite  study  of  ordinary  conversation,  practice 
in  using  words  in  accordance  with  the  niceties  and  delicate 


Summary  and  Conclusions  101 

shades  of  expression  and  meaning,  with  a  definite  goal  of 
making  this  knowledge  a  part  of  the  pupil's  every  day  life 
and  practice,  rather  than  a  purely  school-room    exercise. 
Further,  it  means  a  flexibility  of  the  course  offered  to  these 
children,  by  which  the  Scandinavian  will  be  given  especial 
opportunity  to  develop  his  undoubted  gift  for  form,  for 
mechanical  skill  and  for  working  into  occupational  industry 
by   the   most   efficient   and   practical   roads.     His   Jewish 
compatriot  must  be  given  a  different  sort  of  training  to  make 
him  more  useful  as  a  citizen  in  the  mercantile  and  commer- 
cial pursuits  for  which  his  ancestry  has  pointed  him,  with  a 
widening  of  the  field  in  which  he  may  work  to  advantage — 
the  live-stock  and  agricultural  fields  being  two  in  which 
he  could  well  put  his  talents  of  organization  into  play.    The 
superintendent  can  not  overlook  the  part  which  the  objective 
tests  can  and  must  play  in  this  whole  process.     In  this  study, 
the  test  has  shown  itself  the  vital  factor  in  the  investigation. 
Where  the  study  of  the  school  marks  was  found   to  be 
faulty,  both  on  account  of  the  unreliability  as  between 
schools  and  the  lack  of  discrimination  between  pupils,  and 
on  account  of  the  small  numbers  of  cases  which  resulted 
from  a  study  of  over  2500  pupils,  a  final  number  in  each 
national  group  so  small  that  the  conclusion  was  forced  that 
by  that  method  alone,  some  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  cases 
would  have  to  be  studied  in  order  to  draw  entirely  scientific 
and  satisfactory  conclusions;  in  this  difficulty,  the  objective 
test  clarified  and  exposed  the  true  situation  and  pointed 
the  underlying  causes  as  no  purely  observation  study  could 
ever  do.      Further,   it  indicated  its  value,  incidentally,  in 
answering  clearly  and  positively  the  question  as   to   the 
justification  for  principals  to  assume  very  high  or  very  low 
standards  of  marking  in  their  buildings.     The  injustice  to 
the  pupils  of  such  resultant  variations  between  schools  is 
unmasked  with  startling  definition. 


102  Nationality  and  School- Progress 

Accordingly  the  superintendent  is  failing  in  his  responsi- 
bility to  the  foreign  constituents  of  his  community  if  he  does 
not  seek  to  discover  and  apply  such  means  as  will  most 
effectively  serve  their  peculiar  needs  and  requirements. 
And  this  is  to  be  done,  not  by  snap  judgment  and  by  personal 
opinion  and  impression,  but  by  the  application  of  scientific 
and  objective  methods. 

But  the  lesson  must  not  stop  with  the  school.  There  is 
food  for  thought  here  for  the  leaders  of  these  peoples  who 
are  seeking  to  become  good  Americans.  Those  men  who 
are  the  acknowledged  guides  of  the  Swedish  people,  of  the 
Jewish  people,  of  the  Italian  people,  in  this  country  must 
come  to  recognize  the  handicaps  under  which  their  people 
are  working,  and  must  come  to  feel  that  real  Americans  are 
not  Swedes,  or  Jews,  or  Yankees,  or  Italians,  but  are  men 
and  women  with  common  ideals  and  aspirations,  and  that 
these  ideals  are  to  be  interpreted  in  one  language  and  one 
method  of  expression.  In  the  new  home — for  the  old  figure 
of  the  "asylum"  must  be  forgotten,  and  the  new  figure  of 
the  "home"  must  replace  it— in  the  new  home,  then,  there 
must  be  that  facility  of  intercourse  which  is  characteristic 
of  the  home,  of  the  true  home  in  which  father,  mother  and 
children  are  in  harmony,  each  understanding  the  other  and 
contributing  to  the  common  cause.  The  encouragement  of 
the  foreign  language  in  the  newspaper,  the  pulpit,  or  the 
home,  is  directly  subversive  of  this  home  spirit;  and  worse 
yet,  it  is  definitely  antagonistic  to  the  interests  of  these 
peoples  in  their  desire  to  compete  with  the  native  born  of 
native  ancestry  in  the  struggle  for  maintenance. 

But  further,  the  responsibility  rests  on  the  leaders  of  the 
work  in  Americanism  in  the  legislative  halls  and  in  the  judicial 
positions  of  our  country.  Ou^_sqcial  workers  have  inaugu- 
rated a  work  which  hits  at  the  heart  of  thTdifficulty,  in  work- 
ing, through  continuation  schools  and  community  centers, 


Summary  and  Conclusions  103 

for  classes  of  mothers  to  study_the  English  language  andj:he_ 
HviP^3^o^iari:e^polislbilities  of  the  American  mother. 
This  will  go  far  to  solve  the  difficulty;  but  the  real  test  comes 
when  the  laws  of  this  country  relating  to  citizenship  are 
applied.  If  the  prospective  citizen  is  really  in  earnest  in 
becoming  naturalized,  if  he  really  desires  to  abjure  allegiance 
to  the  country  of  his  birth,  and  to  cast  his  lot  and  his  fortunes 
as  well  as  those  of  his  children,  with  the  new  country  as  the 
country  of  his  first  choice,  he  must  be  able  to  show  this 
desire  by  objective  facts.  If  he  still  clings  to  the  language 
of  his  birth  as  his  chosen  medium,  if  he  is  not  willing  to 
adopt  the  language  as  well  as  the  freedom  of  conduct  and 
the  equality  of  opportunity  of  the  new  home,  he  is  not  at 
heart  ready  for  citizenship.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  and 
his  wife  are  trying,  laboriously  and  slowly,  perhaps,  but 
surely,  to  use  the  new  language  in  their  home  life  and  home 
circle,  if  they  are  reading  English  newspapers,  if  they  are 
attending  church  services  conducted  in  English,  then  it 
may  be  fairly  assumed  that  they  are  in  truth  on  the  road 
to  becoming  Americans.  Their  children  will  not  rest  under 
a  weight  of  almost  insupportable  burden  in  their  attempt  to 
achieve  their  rightful  place  in  the  life  to  which  they  are 
introduced.  In  the  light  of  the  facts  herein  revealed,  even 
if  there  were  no  other  compelling  and  vital  issues  of  American- 
ization resting  on  the  decisions  of  our  legislators  in  the 
immediate  future,  the  need  for  careful  revision  of  the 
naturalization  laws  and  practice  would  seem  to  be  im- 
perative. 


104  Nationality  and  School  Progress 

IX.  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  list  covers  books  referred  to  or  consulted  in  the  course  of  the  inquiry. 
Studies  Referring  to  Nationality  in  the  Schools 

Ayres,  Leonard  P.    1909.    Laggards  in  our  Schools.    Russell  Sage  Foundation 

Publications. 
Ayres,  L.  P.  and  Judd,  C.  H.     1916.    A  Survey  of  the  Cleveland  Schools. 

Volume  entitled  uMeasuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools."    Cleveland 

Foundation,  Survey  Committee. 
Chadwick,  R.  D.     1918.    Know  Your  School.    Journal  of  Education,  Boston, 

Oct.  31,  1918. 
Van  Denburg,  J.  K.    1911.    Caiises  of  Elimination  of  Students  in  the  New  York 

Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City.    Teachers  College,  Columbia 

University,  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  47. 
United  States  Census  Reports  or  1910 

References  to  Problems  of  Race  and  Nationality 

Dominian,  Leon.     1917.    Frontiers  of  Language  and  Nationality  in  Europe. 

Henry  Holt  and  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Babington,  W.  D.    1895.    Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  Applied  to  National 

Characteristics.    Longmans,  Green  &  Co.    London. 
Peschel,  Oscar.    1892.    The  Races  of  Man.    Appleton  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Tylor,  E.  B.    1889.    Anthropology.    Appleton  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Zangwill,  Israel.    1917.     The  Principle  of  Nationalities.    Macmillan,  N.  Y. 
Thomson,  J.  A.    1910.    Heredity.    G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y. 

References  to  Retardation  and  Acceleration 

Ayres,  L.  P.    1909.    Laggards  in  our  Schools. 

Bachman,  Frank  P.     1915.    Problems  in  Elementary  School  Administration. 

World  Book  Co.,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Strayer,  Geo.  D.    1911.    Age-Grade  Census  of  Schools  and  Colleges.    U.  S. 

Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  5,  1911. 
Bailiff,  Mathilda  V.    1917.    An  Educational  Diagnosis  of  a  Group  of  Seventh 

Grade  Minneapolis  Public  School  Children.    Unpublished.    Thesis  filed  in 

University  of  Minnesota  Library. 

References  to  Tests,  Scales  and  Measurements 

Thorndike,  E.  L.    1913.    Mental  and  Social  Measurements.    Teachers'  College, 

Columbia  University,  N.  Y. 
Rugg,  H.  O.    1917.     Statistical  Methods  Applied  to  Education.     Houghton, 

Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 


Bibliography  105 

Trabue,  M.  R.  1916.  Completion-Test  Language  Scales.  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University,  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  77. 

Carupel,  Mary.  1918.  A  Number  Completion  Test.  Unpublished.  Thesis 
filed  in  the  University  of  Minnesota  Library. 

Sister  Jeanne-Marie.  1919.  A  Vocabulary  Test.  Unpublished.  Thesis 
filed  in  the  University  of  Minnesota  Library. 

Additional  Tables 

The  need  for  conserving  paper  and  space  has  led  to  the  omission  of  many 
interesting  tables  of  distribution.  These  are  on  file  in  the  library  of  the  Grad- 
uate School  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  as  well  as  in  the  Department  of 
Education  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  may  be  consulted  in  either  place. 


UNIVERSfTY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  069005962 


